Eubanks said he’s “forever grateful” to have a team of doctors dedicated to helping him get healthy.


Real Housewives of Atlanta

star Dwight Eubanks has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 64-year-old TV star and celebrity hairstylist told

PEOPLE

that he was diagnosed in January after submitting to a routine bloodwork panel at a health fair hosted by his church. Though he felt in good health and exhibited no concerning symptoms, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which his doctor was able to confirm via a follow-up prostate-specific antigen blood test.

“When you hear the word cancer, you freak out. I’m human,” Eubanks said. “Society has told us that cancer was just devastating and, you know, you just have days to live. So of course I freaked out and I think I’m still freaked out.”

Eubanks is among the most enduring fan-favorite supporting characters in
RHOA
history. He appeared on the show as a friend of series star

NeNe Leakes

, and shared several memorable scenes with cast members like

Shereé Whitfield

and

Kim Zolciak

. Last October, Eubanks

showed off merch

bearing the phrase, “How dreadful,” a throwback to his iconic review of Whitfield’s season 1 fashion show – “A fashion show with no fashions? How dreadful.”

In the years since his
RHOA
exit and falling out with former BFF Leakes, Eubanks opened and now operates the Purple Door Salon in Atlanta, and has appeared on several seasons of

Bravo

‘s
Married to Medicine
.

Eubanks has been open about his experience living with HIV, which he was diagnosed with in the 1980s. He also told PEOPLE that he has a family history of prostate cancer, but was told not to worry because it was on his mother’s side. “So I’m thinking that I’m good,” he told PEOPLE, noting how often his vitals were being reviewed by doctors. “I was confident that I was Superman. I was cleared. I was going to be okay and I just never thought about it.”

When Eubanks got the results in January, he was he was “shocked. I was angry… I was just emotionally a wreck.”


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But Eubanks is endeavoring to take this unwelcome news in stride, saying, “I just have to laugh instead of crying about this whole journey.”

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