Cardiologist and health advocate Willie Ong, who ran for vice president in the 2022 elections, is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.
Ong, widely known as “Doc Willie,” shared the news through his social media accounts on Saturday. He revealed that doctors discovered a 16 x 13 x 12-centimeter sarcoma in his abdomen, positioned behind his heart and in front of his spine.
“This tumor is extremely large—one of the biggest they have seen,” Ong said in a YouTube video recorded from his hospital room on August 29.
The release of the video was delayed due to his complex chemotherapy treatment, according to a post on his Facebook page.
Sarcoma is a broad category of cancers that originate in the bones or soft and connective tissues.
Ong recounted that in April 2023, he began experiencing fatigue, difficulty breathing, and trouble swallowing during medical missions, symptoms he initially attributed to aging.
By October, he developed back pain that extended to his upper spine, making it difficult for him to sleep lying flat. His condition worsened in August, when the pain became unbearable.
“That was the worst pain of my life—10 out of 10. You would cry out in pain and not sleep all night,” Ong recalled.
He was hospitalized in August and diagnosed with a rare, aggressive, and large sarcoma. Despite his battle with cancer, Ong remains optimistic.
“Am I sad? No. I’m lucky to have my wife caring for me and my children watching over me. I’m so blessed,” he said. Reflecting on his journey, Ong added, “Is this negative or positive? Negative, because of the tumor. But positive, because I’ve grown closer to my two children, who I felt distant from before. My family has become closer.”
Ong is a popular figure on social media, where he provides health and wellness advice to his 9.7 million YouTube subscribers and 17 million Facebook followers.
In 2022, Ong ran as the vice-presidential candidate alongside Isko Moreno under the Aksyon Demokratiko party.
