A 38-year-old TikTok music executive, Govind Sandhu, has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer — non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Sandhu says he was “the healthiest I’ve ever been” and “thought I was in the best shape of my life” before the diagnosis.
He’s now sharing his health journey, beginning with a two-day chemotherapy treatment.
“I’m 38 years old and I’ve been diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. What. The. Hell?” Govind Sandhu, the head of Global Music Partnerships at TikTok Australia, said in an Instagram video where he shared his diagnosis.
“This wasn’t exactly part of my five-year plan,” he said. “I thought I was in the best shape of my life, the healthiest I’ve ever been. A Crossfitter who runs ultra-marathons and marathons, lives and breathes training, optimizes sleep and recovery, supplements, nutrition.”
Sandhu continued, “I just finished 75 Hard” — the at-times controversial fitness plan that has landed some devotees in the hospital — “and was in Bali for a couple of weeks training up a storm.”
He shared that he got the news of his cancer after completing the Sydney half-marathon.
“Speechless,” he said.
“I ran the half-marathon along with being away a weekend prior in a remote part of Australia running trails with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma running wild through my system,” he later elaborated, according to The New York Post.
Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is a type of cancer that begins in the lymph nodes, the Mayo Clinic says, where white blood cells grow abnormally and can cause tumors throughout the body.
Following the marathon, Sandhu experienced flu-like symptoms, pain in his neck, knee, and shoulder, and “wild night sweats” that kept waking him. The symptoms caused him to go to the doctor, the NYP reported.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” he later wrote on Instagram as news of his diagnosis began to spread.
“Book in for a general check up, get your blood done & speak to your GP. Pretty easy first step to be ahead of the game!”
Sandhu is now sharing details of his cancer journey, posting a photo of a handful of six pills that are his “cancer meds”. He said they “supercharged” him for “chemo administration day.”
He posted a video in the car as he headed to Saint Vincent’s Private Hospital for a two-day chemotherapy session, saying, “To be honest, feeling up for it. Had a good night’s sleep, had a good dinner, had a lovely breakfast this morning. And the way that I look at it is that we are another step down on the road to recovery.”
Sandhu later shared a video “tour of the chemo ward,” flashing a peace sign as he received his treatment.
“Very lucky,” he captioned the video, and updated followers following his second day of treatment.
“Not feeling too bad,” he said, admitting that the first day was “so overwhelming.”
“Super comfortable, very lucky,” he said.
“All in all, a really successful day — all things considered.”
Although Sandhu didn’t share his prognosis, Verywell Health explains that the five-year survival rate for different types of non-Hodgkins lymphoma ranges from 57% to 86%.
