A Dawson’s Creek actress is showing her support for her onscreen son, James Van Der Beek, as he battles cancer.

Over twenty years after the hit teen drama ended, Mary-Margaret Humes, who played Dawson Leery’s mom, Gale Leery, on the show from 1998 to 2003, revealed her private battle with colon cancer in 2007.

This news comes just days before the Dawson’s Creek cast reunites on Monday for an F Cancer benefit. The event will support James Van Der Beek, 48, who announced in 2024 his diagnosis of stage 3 colorectal cancer.

“It was just about ready to break out of the wall,” Humes recalled to Us Weekly recently. “It could’ve been a terrible situation, but we caught it in time. My doctor said we dodged a bullet, and it was all because of early detection.”

“Cancers are survivable, but go out

See Full Page