The cult series “Dawson’s Creek” is about the lives of teenagers in the fictional US town of Capeside: James Van Der Beek shone in it as the film-loving high school student Dawson Leery. The hit series about growing up, love worries and fears captivated an audience of millions over six seasons from 1998 to 2003.
Newcomer Van Der Beek became a teen star overnight. Now the actor has died at the age of 48. He be “peaceful” died in the morning, his family said on Wednesday.
“I am one of them”
In November 2024, the father of six made it public that he had colon cancer. “It is Krebs“, he wrote on Instagram. Many people around the world get this diagnosis every year. “And I am one of them.” The disease had already been discovered in Van Der Beek the year before.
In Germany it is 2023 according to estimates by the Center for Cancer Registry Data (ZfKD) Around 517,800 cancers have been diagnosed. Of these, around 55,300 were found in the colon and rectum.
Increase in younger people
In 2024, younger people were treated in hospital for colorectal cancer more often than 20 years earlier: there was an increase in the 15 to 44 age groups according to the Federal Statistical Office the number of colon cancer treatments per 100,000 inhabitants, while it fell in the older groups.
The increase was most noticeable among 20 to 24 year olds, where the number of treatment cases per 100,000 inhabitants rose from 2.6 in 2004 to 3.6 in 2024. The increase was also comparatively high among 35 to 39 year olds – from 21.8 cases in 2004 to 27.5 cases in 2024.
date: 2026-02-12 20:58:00
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