Criss Angel has announced his seven-year-old son’s cancer is in remission, seven years after he was diagnosed with leukemia.
Johnny Crisstopher, the eldest of the magician’s three children with his wife Shaunyl Benson, was first diagnosed in 2015.
The illness briefly went into remission before returning in December 2019.
Angel shared an Instagram post on Tuesday, January 18, stating that Johnny Cristopher was due to "ring the bell symbolizing his remission and the end of his treatment".
Watch Criss Angel's emotional announcement here:
He later posted an emotional video of his son ringing the bell, surrounded by his parents and medical staff.
In the clip, Angel reflects on his "disbelief" when his son was first diagnosed with cancer. He said: "I thought it happened to the other person, not to you."
"You think Criss Angel is this guy who does all these crazy things ... and then you see me sobbing and I can’t stop sobbing, because it’s so real. It’s not an illusion. It’s not like you’re going to wake up the next day and everything is going to be OK," he added.
The Johnny Crisstopher Children's Charitable Foundation, of which Angel is the president, aims to raise awareness and funds for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer.
In honor of the latest milestone, Angel shared a video documenting Johnny's entire battle with cancer, calling it "the most important post I have ever made."
The nearly 14-minute long short film is titled "1095" — representing the 1,095 chemotherapy sessions needed to treat his son's type of B-Cell A.L.L. Leukemia.
In the clip, Angel shares footage from numerous doctor's visits as well as emotional discussions between Angel and Benson — who are also parents to son Xristos Yanni, 2, and daughter Illusia Angelina, 2 months — about Johnny.
The magician urged his followers to share the video in hopes of raising awareness and money for other kids with cancer. "One child every two minutes is diagnosed with cancer," he said in the video.
"Cancer doesn't discriminate… so I want to try and be a voice for these kids and I want to try to help these families that are going through the toughest time of their life and let them know that they're not alone."
Angel added that he hopes to raise "hundreds of millions of dollars" toward pediatric cancer because he'd "rather be remembered for the work that I did with kids than the work that I did as a magician."