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Ice skater great and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, who was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1997, is gearing up for another Scott Hamilton & Friends benefit concert.
Hamilton said this year’s event is shaping up to be the most “epic” yet. “We have lead singers from Loverboy, Chicago, Journey, Kansas and REO Speedwagon,” he told People of the artist lineup.
The fundraiser benefits Hamilton’s CARES Foundation, an organization that works with cancer research centers and focuses on finding cures that prevent long-term harm to patients.
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Scott Hamilton speaks to the crowd during the Legacy On Ice US Figure Skating Benefit at Capital One Arena on March 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
“For so long, chemotherapy, traditional radiation therapy, all the surgical procedures traditionally used, have created harm in the patient. We like to partner with like-minded organizations to elevate cancer-specific research – immunotherapy, targeted therapy, proton therapy – anything that will treat the cancer and save the patient from harm,” Hamilton said.
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After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy to treat his cancer in 1997, Hamilton was diagnosed with a pituitary brain tumor in 2004. The tumor was removed, but he battled another brain tumor six years later. He returned in 2016, but Hamilton opted not to have surgery to treat the benign tumor.
The 67-year-old said he continues to live a full life.
NBC analyst Scott Hamilton competes in the figure skating team event during the 2018 Winter Olympics at the Gangneung Ice Rink on February 12, 2018, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
“Life is good,” Hamilton told People of his health. “I live fully, I live healthy, I live without restriction.”
He added: “I mean, I’m on medication for the rest of my life, but that’s OK. I always say there are two types of people on the planet: those who will one day take medication, or those who are already on medication.”
The four-time U.S. figure skating champion remains optimistic about a future in which no lives are taken by cancer.
Scott Hamilton during a television interview on Tuesday, May 2, 2017. (Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
“Everything I’ve learned, everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve witnessed, everything I believe to be true says that there will be a time, probably in my lifetime – and I’m 67, so it’s not like I have decades and decades left – is that there will be a day when no one will die of cancer.”
Hamilton was born in Ohio and began skating at age 9.
