Flip or Flop’s Tarek El Moussa opens up about thyroid cancer battle

Flip or Flop‘s Tarek El Moussa has not been too forthcoming with information about his nearly three-year battle against thyroid cancer. Recently, though, the HGTV star opened up about his struggles in a new interview: though his cancer is in remission, Tarek acknowledged that he struggles with its aftereffects–as well as those of his treatment–every day.

Tarek was famously diagnosed with thyroid cancer after a fan wrote to Flip or Flop‘s producers about a sinister-looking growth on the star’s neck. The fan said that Tarek should have a doctor look at the growth, and Tarek obliged–and found out that he not only had cancer, but that it had spread to his lymph nodes.

That was in 2013. Now, according to Tarek, things are better–his cancer is in remission, after all–but they’re not back to normal. “The last three years have been a pretty big challenge,” Tarek, 34, told People. “I feel good, but I don’t have the energy I used to have. The only thing is most days or like half the time I feel a little jetlagged. I’m really tired.”

One happy reason for Tarek’s fatigue, though, is the new baby boy that he and his wife and co-star Christina welcomed this past August. Braden, who’s ten weeks old, is a big part of why Tarek says he feels optimistic about his future.

“There is always that chance of reoccurrence but every year that goes by the odds of reoccurrence goes down so it’s good,” he told People. “I have slowed down quite a bit. Which is actually a good thing because I can actually relax now.”

(Photo credits: Tarek El Moussa cancer via Instagram)