When 82-year-old actress Suzanne Rogers showed up at the 60th anniversary celebration of Days of Our Lives, she carried something far heavier than her red carpet dress. Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. But today, she’s in remission, and the experience has given her a new way of seeing life.
“I’m feeling so much better. I mean, my summer was rough. I had cancer removed, radiation; that was tough. But I didn’t lose my hair. I guess I got it early,” she told PEOPLE.
Rogers has played Maggie Horton on the soap for 52 years now.
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During the summer of 2025, she underwent surgery, radiation, and a chemo regimen involving pills: “I was stage two, and it was a certain kind of chemo that they gave me, it was pills and the radiation, and it didn’t affect it so that was good,” she said.
Her treatment was intense. According to other reporting, she started three days after wrapping filming in June and went through radiation every day and chemo five days a week for six weeks.
She estimates she’s about 70 percent of the way back in terms of energy: “It’s about 70% right now… I’m just basically letting things happen. I’m not making anything happen.”
Beyond the treatment itself, the diagnosis completely changed her perspective. She said, “I don’t worry about the small things. It’s not worth it. I was rushing here and I went, ‘Wait a minute. You’re not going anywhere.’”
Because she has spent more than five decades on the soap, fans were concerned when she disappeared from public view for a while. But she had timed her break carefully to focus on treatment away from the spotlight. Now she is returning to work with a different mindset. She says the nerves she feels are not about her health. It is the same kind of I want to do good feeling she has always had.
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Because of her long tenure on the soap (more than five decades), fans were concerned when she vanished from public view for a bit—but she purposely timed things with the show’s break so she could focus on treatment away from the spotlight.
Now she’s coming back to work, but with a new outlook: she says her nervousness isn’t about her health—it’s the same kind of “I‑want‑to‑do‑good” nerves she always had.
This whole journey is a reminder of two things: the value of early detection and the way a health scare can reshuffle priorities. For someone whose career has spanned decades and whose public image is of strength and resilience, she’s chosen honesty about how rough it was—and also hope. Rogers is telling the story of recovery not as a cautionary tale but as a pivot.
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If you’ve been putting off a health check‑up or ignoring fatigue or changes in your body, her story underscores how meaningful it can be to act early. Colon cancer, especially, can be sneaky. (One earlier article noted that the American Cancer Society recommends screenings for adults 45 and up.)
Rogers’ message is clear: you don’t get to always avoid hard things, but you can make them meaningful. She’s no longer sweating the small stuff. And at 82, with more than half a century playing one of daytime TV’s most enduring characters, she’s still going strong.
