Two time Olympic medalist Maia Shibutani is "doing great" after an "extremely challenging" recovery process, the former ice dancer told People in a recent interview. The Team USA Olympian, 29, who won two Olympic bronze medals at the 2018 Olympics skating with her ice dance partner and brother, Alex Shibutani, had a tumor removed in 2019, and later found out that it was cancerous.
She shared the news on Instagram on December 20, 2019, writing, "I got my pathology report back — the tumor that was successfully removed on Saturday was unfortunately malignant (cancer)."
"(SDH)-deficient renal cell carcinoma," she continued in the post at the time. "This wasn’t the news I was hoping for, but I am beyond thankful that it was detected early and that my surgery went well."
She also noted that she did not need any additional treatment at that time, but had to take some time to focus on "recovering and healing."
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MedPageToday reported that Maia originally sought treatment for a stomach virus. Because of an "abnormality," she had an MRI, which showed that she had a mass on her kidney.
In 2020, Maia told MedPageToday that she was trying to focus on "embracing the moment."
According to the outlet, she went back to the gym on February 20, 2020. "Everything won't change right away and I need to continue to be patient, but today was a special reminder to celebrate, love, and be kind to myself," she told the outlet at the time.
Speaking to People on May 11, 2024, Maia said the recovery process was "very painful." However, she is now "healthy and doing well."
She also spoke to the outlet about some of her exciting plans for the future.
She and her brother plan on traveling to Paris for the 2024 Olympics. Alex told the outlet that he will be a photographer at the Olympics, while Maia "will be doing a variety of different media roles."
Maia and Alex both retired from competitive skating in 2018.
Maia told People that it will be their first time going to the summer Olympics.
But visiting Paris for the Olympics is not the only exciting thing the siblings have planned. Maia also shared that she and Alex are publishing another book: Incredible: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Changed the World.
