Just days after gaining his one-millionth Twitter follower, news is breaking that Zack Ryder was once diagnosed with cancer.

The self-proclaimed "Internet Champion", revealed that he battled the disease while in High School.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via WrestleZone.com):

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting a recent edition of WWE Magazine has an interview with Zack Ryder where he reveals he had cancer. The article notes a scar on his chest that is courtesy of the battle he fought with a type of cancer in high school. Ryder says he doesn't ever talk about it because he doesn't want sympathy

Ultimately, you have to give Ryder credit, as he not only fought his way to relevance on the WWE roster, but he also fought one of the most deadliest diseases and survived. Personally, I am a bit surprised that he has never talked about this before.

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand his right to privacy. However, he currently has a celebrity status and could utilize that to gain awareness for the form of cancer that he had.

Overall, though, I am not in his shoes and am not willing to judge why he decided to keep this quiet.

That being said, Ryder is one of the fortunate few, that can say that he battled through adversity and came out on top. Compile that with his storybook rise to WWE's mid-card and Ryder can look back on his life and be happy with all that he has accomplished to-date.

Granted, I am sure he would have been happier with a longer run at the top, but not many people can claim to have done what he did—not to mention that his hoards of Twitter followers wouldn't be there if he hadn't worked so hard at getting noticed.

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In the end, Ryder didn't have to reveal this information about himself, and fortunately, for he and his fans, he is able to live his current lifestyle cancer-free.