James Van Der Beek and Cancer

What the 'Dawson's Creek' star's battle with colorectal cancer means to us, the fans.

I don't know James Van Der Beek personally, but I feel like I do. Not only did I watch 'Dawson's Creek' when it came out but I’ve watched it nearly every year since. My wife's comfort show is 'Gilmore Girls' and mine is 'Dawson's Creek'.

If James was to read this he'd probably be frustrated that he is - as always - referred to as the Dawson's Creek guy, but the show was iconic! Calista Flockhart could become an astronaut, assassinate Donald Trump and be abducted by aliens, but she'd still be remembered as ‘Ally McBeal.'

Dawson's Creek is in our hearts. Even if you were team Pacey, the fact that Van Der Beek is sick breaks your heart.

I was pretty much the same age as the characters at the time the show was released, which is more than you can say for the actors. How they were got away with these guys playing sixteen year olds I'll never know, but I'm glad they did.

Everyone has always loved movie stars and faces from TV. But for some reason, these guys from the 90s hit differently. Matthew Perry’s passing was more than just some guy from TV dying. This was our friend, who's been in our living rooms more than our actual real life friends.

James Van Der Beek has done other great work, and will continue to do so. But I can't pretend I know his filmography like I do Tom Hanks’s. It's a different type of relationship, but no less important.

We rewatch our favourite old shows because we get to hang out with our friends. These people we knew inside out, who were the living embodiment of emotions we were too young and naive to process by ourselves. Somehow, even now, we still need to return to these shows to remember who we are. We needed Dawson, we needed Chandler, we needed Rory Gilmore. We STILL DO, which is why finding out that James Van Der Beek has stage three colorectal cancer evokes the emotions.

We want him -- need him -- to be okay. He's been on our TVs so often that he's become a part of us.

“Why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the good?

Maybe it's because we need to believe that the time we spent together actually meant something.

That we were there for each other in a time in our lives that defined us all.

A time in our lives that we will never forget.”

-Joey Potter, in Dawson's Creek.