The Tragic Health Condition Billy Baldwin's Son Battled As A Teenager
Having to watch your child suffer is an unimaginable pain. Billy Baldwin's son, Vance Baldwin, had to endure something his family initially chose to keep out of the public eye.
When Vance was only 16, he was diagnosed with cancer. A year to the day after that diagnosis — which included 28 rounds of chemotherapy — Vance was cancer-free. Billy shared his son's private Instagram post to his own account, explaining how in awe of his brave son he is, as someone who "stayed VERY positive, focused and kept his life as normal as possible ... every single day." Billy then added, "Courage, strength, bravery, attitude, warrior ... never seen anything like it. Never been prouder. Love you son."
The "Backdraft" star shares Vance with wife Chynna Phillips (of Wilson Phillips fame), who's definitely had her fair share of marriage woes with Billy. Philips commented on her husband's post with a short but sweet message: "Our baby. Our hero" (via USA Today). On the second anniversary of Vance's cancer diagnosis, Billy shared a pic of Vance wearing a mask on Instagram and wrote, "One of the coolest, toughest kids you'll ever know."
Vance Baldwin lives his life offline
Billy Baldwin, who used to be friends with RFK Jr., never passes up an opportunity to show off his kids, especially his only son, Vance Baldwin. From attending baseball and football games, voting in the presidential election together, and posting adorable throwback pics, it's clear Billy is Vance's number one fan.
Vance doesn't seem to be following in his father's footsteps, choosing to live his life outside of the spotlight. There's not a lot of information about what he's up to, but he used to play basketball at Santa Barbara High School. In 2020, Billy shared a carousel on Instagram of Vance's basketball pics over the years. "So proud of this guy ... you have no idea," Billy captioned, going on to share that his son's team won the Channel League Co-Championship and were off to the playoffs.
Vance's mother, Chynna Phillips, doesn't post much about her kids on Instagram, but she did share a funny video of her son trying to cut a lemon, only to then accidentally get lemon juice in his eye. Vance clearly has a sense of humor, since he immediately joked how he meant to do that while rubbing his injured eye. That quick-thinking, positive mentality surely helped him during his cancer battle.