‘Forrest Gump’ star Gary Sinise’s son Mac dies of cancer aged 33

Gary Sinise, the actor best known for Forrest Gump and Apollo 13, has announced that his son Mac has died aged 33.

He posted on the website of the Gary Sinise Foundation that Mac died on January 5 from a rare form of cancer.

“Like any family experiencing such a loss, we are heartbroken and have been managing as best we can,” Sinise wrote. “As parents, it is so difficult losing a child. My heart goes out to all who have suffered a similar loss, and to anyone who has lost a loved one.”

“It’s heartbreaking, and it’s just damn hard. Our family’s cancer fight lasted for five and a half years, and it became more and more challenging as time went on. While our hearts ache at missing him, we are comforted in knowing that Mac is no longer struggling, and inspired and moved by how he managed it. He fought an uphill battle against a cancer that has no cure, but he never quit trying.”

“Mac loved movies, and we always told him he reminded us of the soldier at the end of the extraordinary film 1917, running through the battlefield, bombs going off all around him, knocking him down one after the other, yet he keeps getting back up, refusing to quit and keeps running forward.”

Mac, whose full name was McCanna Anthony Sinise, was diagnosed with chordoma in 2018, a rare form of spinal cancer which his father described as a “one in a million” cancer. It is thought it only affects around 300 people per year in the United States.

Mac also played drums, including with his father’s band Lt. Dan Band on occasion. Gary wrote that Mac was “an exceptional drummer” as he remembered “great times, father and son, rockin’ out together for the troops”.

Last year Mac, a former music student, began to compose the piece ‘Arctic Circles’, despite physical limitations stemming from his illness. Along with members of the Lt. Dan Band, he completed the track, which you can hear above.

The Lt. Dan Band is named after Sinise’ role as Lt. Dan Taylor in Robert Zemeckis’ beloved 1994 film Forrest Gump. The character was the platoon leader of Tom Hanks’ title character in the Vietnam War who is rescued by Gump and later becomes his close friend.

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