Update on Bret Hart cancer – surgery performed, will begin “long road to recovery”

Update: Bret Hart underwent a surgical procedure on Thursday (February 11) as part of his prostate cancer treatment.

The surgery was performed at Rocky View Hospital in Alberta, Canada, where Hart is expected to spend the weekend recovering before returning home.

Hart then begins a “long road to recovery” following the procedure. (Read Hart’s update)

Surgery's over and on the long road to recovery. I want to thank Dr. Hyndman and the nursing staff at Rocky View Hospital for an outstanding job. I also want to thank my family, friends, and fans for all your love and support. Things are looking up and I should be home in the next couple of days. In the words of Vince McMahon: "It's onwards and upwards.

A photo posted by Bret (@brethitmanhart) on Feb 11, 2016 at 4:17pm PST

Bret Hart announced on February 1 that he has prostate cancer.

“I’ve had a great lifelong dance and I’m a survivor of many hard battles. I now face my toughest battle. With hesitation and fear, I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer. In the next few days, I will undergo surgery with the hope of defeating this nemesis once and for all,” Hart wrote on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Hart said he’s “paid a price” for his 23-year wrestling career, including recent wrist surgery. “Aside from a devastating career-ending concussion and numerous surgeries when I was younger, in recent years I’ve had two knee replacements, two hernia operations, surgery on my right elbow, and, just a few months ago, I underwent a four-corner fusion of my right wrist that even now makes it most difficult to write or type,” Hart wrote.

But, Hart says he is determined to submit prostate cancer. “Most important of all, I hope I can take the fight to prostate cancer. To be a leader in awareness and to set the example for men everywhere who find themselves in my very same shoes, that prostate cancer can be beaten,” Hart wrote.

It is with great remorse that I feel compelled to speak truthfully to my friends, family and my millions of fans around the world. In the past few years, I've spent more than enough time paying the price for all those years trying to be the best there ever was as a professional wrestler. I executed excellently and my proudest claim was that I never seriously hurt or injured another wrestler in my 23 year career. I've paid a price for all that "fake" wrestling … Mark Helprin wrote: "We are all perfect clocks that Divinity has set to ticking when, even before birth, the heart explodes into a lifelong dance." I've had a great lifelong dance and I'm a survivor of many hard battles. I now face my toughest battle. With hesitation and fear, I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer. In the next few days, I will undergo surgery with the hope of defeating this nemesis once and for all. My fans have always looked upon me as a hero and I've always done my best to live up to that in and out of the ring. I beat the odds when I suffered my stroke in 2002, but it is now yet again, that I … stand unafraid and face the tough road ahead of me, I will march toward this destiny with his spirit chanting in my ear. I make a solemn vow to all of those that once believed in me, the dead and the living, that I will wage my fearsome fight against cancer with one shield and one sword carrying my determination and my fury for life, emboldened by all the love that's kept me going this long already. Love is my weapon and I've got much of it around me all the time, for which I'm truly blessed and eternally grateful. My children, grandchildren, and my loving wife Steph have been and will constantly be at my side. I refuse to lose, I will never give in or give up, and I will win this battle or die trying. Most important of all, I hope can take the fight to prostate cancer. To be a leader in awareness and to set the example for men everywhere who find themselves in my very same shoes, that prostate cancer can be beaten. B x

A photo posted by Bret (@brethitmanhart) on Feb 1, 2016 at 8:28am PST

Since I was a teenager @brethitmanhart has been a hero and an inspiration to me. And today he continues to inspire me, by going public with his battle with cancer. Join me in standing by him and fighting with him until he beats this disease!! #HitmanForever

A photo posted by Chris Jericho (@chrisjerichofozzy) on Feb 1, 2016 at 10:48am PST