RHOA Alum Dwight Eubanks Reveals Heartbreaking Cancer Diagnosis as He Urges Others to Get Themselves Evaluated

One of the best aspects of The Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s glory years was the numerous unofficial cast members who created memorable moments. One of the most iconic was Dwight Eubanks. He was friends with several ladies from the show and appeared throughout multiple seasons. Sadly, he opened up about his recent cancer diagnosis in a new interview.

Dwight, 64, debuted on RHOA during the show’s first season, and he had close ties to NeNe Leakes. Sadly, their friendship soured, and he then formed a bond with Phaedra Parks. He was also featured on recent episodes of Married to Medicine and Botched.

Now, he’s talking to PEOPLE about his recent prostate cancer diagnosis. He first opened up about his grandfather having the illness, but he stated that he didn’t think he had a high risk for it, as it stemmed from his mother’s side of the family. “So I’m thinking that I’m good,” Dwight began.

The RHOA alum continued, “I was confident that I was Superman. I was cleared. I was going to be okay, and I just never thought about it.” Dwight revealed that his church held a health fair in January, and he decided to have bloodwork done at the event. One week passed, and a doctor told him to come in as soon as he could. This was when he got the diagnosis despite feeling healthy. He got a follow-up prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test in April, which confirmed the results. 

“I was shocked. I was angry. I was just emotionally a wreck,” Dwight said. “When you hear the word cancer, you freak out. I’m human. 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.”

His doctors looked into his past medical records and noticed that there were warning signs dating back to 2022. Notably, he had high prostate-specific antigen levels. However, it seems his past doctors may have believed the levels had to do with his HIV status. For context, Dwight has been living with HIV since the 1980s and is undetectable. 

Dwight continued, “I was like, are you kidding me? This was back in 2022, and nobody said anything to me. He just said, ‘You’re undetectable, so you are fine.’ Never said anything about my prostate. I guess they just weren’t looking at that. I just have to laugh instead of crying about this whole journey.”

He has now partnered with  ZERO Prostate Cancer to help raise awareness about how prevalent prostate cancer is among men. The American Cancer Society says that one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and this statistic rises to one in six men for those who are either Black or African American. 

Regarding being a brand ambassador for ZERO Prostate Cancer, Dwight explained, “What’s amazing about it is that I feel like a higher power has been preparing me for this moment to be a light of hope for others. I could not be silent with this because it could help people if they just get tested and don’t wait too long. And most important: ask questions, look at your records, investigate.”

He added, “I can’t say what should have, could have, or would have been, but I just have to embrace where I am now and be grateful and try to help somebody else along the way.”

Dwight also spoke about his future and how he’s approaching his illness. He is adamant about not having his prostate removed, as a close friend of his did. According to the RHOA alum, “So we are exploring possibilities to see what route to go, and we have not come up with that yet. I have a great team, about four different doctors: two urologists, another specialist, and my family physician. So I’m comfortable, and I’m forever grateful to have such a team and support. And we are going to figure it out.”

He then said, “But I feel good. I’m 64, that’s young to me…We’re all going to go through something. But when we reach those bridges, you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and carry on. Because life really is a beautiful thing.”