Mr. T says his 1995 cancer diagnosis brought him closer to Christ. Now cancer free, he’s donates often to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as well as Shriners Hospitals for Children. At one point he even shaved off the famous mohawk.
Mr. T battled cancer over several years and says his faith in God is the reason why he had hope throughout it all.
He told People magazine: It was a test of my faith. I’m very spiritual. In the Book of Job, he was challenged [but he] kept believing in God and that’s the message I try to tell other people. Just because you believe in God, serve God, feed the hungry, clothe the naked … that doesn’t mean things are not going to happen to you. I had to practice what I preached. I try to use my experience and the fact that I grew up in the ghetto—I tell people you don’t have to rob or steal to get out of the ghetto. I was diagnosed with cancer—I tell people you don’t have to commit suicide. We’ve got good medicine now. I want people to draw strength from me.
He also told Fox News:
Mr. T. been to chemo, Mr. T been to radiation, hair fall out…but he’s back. Now I can give hope when I go to the hospital, see the sick kids with cancer, tell them, don’t quit…I serve God.