Emmy-Nominated Actress Christy Romano Tests Positive for Cancer

Christy Carlson Romano — the Emmy-nominated actress who starred in Disney’s “Even Stevens” — is sharing some disturbing health news … she took a cancer screening test, and the results came back positive. 

On Tuesday, Christy posted a teary-eyed Instagram video in which she said she and her husband, Brendon Rooney, took the screening tests because her mother and father were diagnosed with cancer. She said her mom beat the disease, but her dad eventually succumbed to it, and her maternal grandmother died of lung cancer.

Romano says her husband’s test results came back negative, but “mine did not come back negative,” pausing and sighing before she spoke the words.

The former child star says this means she may have “stageable cancer” and she needs a PET scan, which is a radioactive tracer that checks for signs of cancer. But she’s now battling with insurance companies to get the scan covered.

During her emotional message, she broke down in tears at one point talking about the passing of actor James Van Der Beek, who died last week at 48 after his colorectal cancer diagnosis in August 2023.

She noted it’s a “very vulnerable time for me,” adding that about 367 days ago she was sprayed in the face with birdshot while shooting clay pigeons during her birthday party. Last June, she posted a series of Instagram photos showing her facial injuries from the incident.