HGTV star Charlie Kawas shares shock cancer diagnosis, reveals he secretly started treatment while filming

HGTV star Charlie Kawas has revealed that he’s battling testicular cancer.

Kawas, 44, will serve as the co-host for the upcoming HGTV reality series Botched Homes, which will see him ‘rescue South Florida homeowners from some of the region’s most disastrous renovation projects.’

Just days before the show’s release, the construction guru has now shared the shocking news that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and secretly started treatment while filming the show.

In a new interview with People, Kawas explained that he went to the hospital after developing severe back pain that kept getting worse in late March.

After undergoing a series of tests, he received the devastating diagnosis. 

‘It took me by surprise. It caught me off guard,’ he admitted to the publication.

Kawas explained that he was in the midst of filming the show and managing five different renovations at the time, and was not ready to take a step back from his work.

‘I’m the guy on the ladder, on the scaffold, doing the work, dealing with the clients – so how do you just remove the main guy to go take care of treatment?’ he remembered wondering. 

‘I wasn’t ready for it. It was probably the worst possible time it could have happened.’

The father-of-two ultimately decided to get chemotherapy while continuing to work. His health battle will be featured in the series, which premieres on September 2.

‘These homeowners put trust in us and we all worked so hard doing this, so I [didn’t] want to stop,’ he explained.

‘I [wanted] to continue the process, to continue filming, to continue this journey that I was on and include the cancer in the show.

‘This is reality. [I thought], “Let’s include it and let the world know that when you get terrible news like I did, that doesn’t mean you stop everything.”

‘I want to be an inspiration to people. I want to show people that you can keep going. I’ll let the world know, don’t give up.’

He admitted that getting treatment while filming the show was not easy, especially because the chemotherapy often left him with ‘no energy.’

‘There were times it was difficult. I was doing video calls from the [treatment] chair, trying to solve problems,’ he recalled.

‘There were times when I had no energy and I had to get to the job and I really had to push hard and delegate more, rather than do everything myself. It was a challenge for sure.’

Kawas has now completed treatment but is waiting for one more scan to determine whether or not he is cancer free.

He described his health journey as a ‘wakeup call,’ adding that it has forced him not to take anything for granted and to appreciate every day he has with his two daughters, Charli, 14, and Cami, 12, whom he shares with his wife, Pierra Kawas, 49.

‘It was a wake-up call like, “Charlie, you need to slow down a little bit. Your kids are young. Before you know it, they’re going to be off to college and there’s going to be nobody in the house anymore,”‘ he reflected. ‘You never know when your time is up.’ 

While he is still struggling with some of the effects of the chemotherapy, he said he’s ‘on the up and up.’

‘I would go from grabbing something with one hand and swinging it around because I do construction. And now it was challenging,’ he said.

‘But I’m eager to get back on the job and start swinging the hammer again.’