section_path: Personal life/Health
section_name: Health
paragraph_text: Health
  
  In 2014, Kilmer was forced to cancel a Citizen Twain show after losing his voice. He noticed a lump in his throat but did not seek medical care until he started vomiting blood. In January 2015, he was hospitalized for what his representative said were tests for a possible tumor. Kilmer stated on social media, "I have not had a tumor, or tumor operations, or any operation. I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU." Kilmer was a lifelong Christian Scientist, and upon his throat cancer diagnosis referred to it in the press as "the suggestion of throat cancer", opting not to explicitly associate himself with such a diagnosis. He underwent recommended chemotherapy following his children's request despite it being conventionally against his religion.
  
  After previously denying persistent rumors that he had been diagnosed with cancer, Kilmer said in April 2017 that he had experienced a " healing of cancer ". In December 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Kilmer had endured a "two-year battle with throat cancer " and that "a procedure on his trachea has reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath." To speak, Kilmer plugged an electric voice box into his trachea.
  
  He ultimately underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies. Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years but continued to struggle with medical treatments, including the use of a feeding tube.
  
  In 2014, Kilmer was forced to cancel a Citizen Twain show after losing his voice. He noticed a lump in his throat but did not seek medical care until he started vomiting blood. In January 2015, he was hospitalized for what his representative said were tests for a possible tumor. Kilmer stated on social media, "I have not had a tumor, or tumor operations, or any operation. I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU." Kilmer was a lifelong Christian Scientist, and upon his throat cancer diagnosis referred to it in the press as "the suggestion of throat cancer", opting not to explicitly associate himself with such a diagnosis. He underwent recommended chemotherapy following his children's request despite it being conventionally against his religion.
  
  After previously denying persistent rumors that he had been diagnosed with cancer, Kilmer said in April 2017 that he had experienced a " healing of cancer ". In December 2017, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Kilmer had endured a "two-year battle with throat cancer " and that "a procedure on his trachea has reduced his voice to a rasp and rendered him short of breath." To speak, Kilmer plugged an electric voice box into his trachea.
  
  He ultimately underwent chemotherapy and two tracheotomies. Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years but continued to struggle with medical treatments, including the use of a feeding tube.