Is GG Quiting Chemo? A Surprising Update on the 'Doubling Down With the Derricos' Matriarch's Health

TLC's hit reality TV series Doubling Down With the Derricos has highlighted a number of health issues going on with various members of the Derrico family.

One of the major scares has involved Deon's mother, Marian Derrico, aka "GG." Previously, viewers learned that GG had been experiencing concerning symptoms. Although it seemed like the family matriarch was finally on the mend after undergoing open heart surgery, life threw her yet another curveball when it was revealed her lung cancer had returned.

So how is GG doing today?

The Season 4 trailer of Doubling Down With the Derricos teased GG's 73rd birthday party. Although she seemed to be in good spirits at the shindig, later, she drops a bomb that no one was expecting. "The doctor wants me to continue chemo," she says in the clip, later adding her doubts about moving forward with treatment.

"I just don't think I can do this anymore," she adds.

Despite our concerns, GG appears to be doing just fine these days. Several months before the Season 4 premiere she took to Instagram to share some good news with TLC fans.

"I'll do my last chemo treatment on the 6th [of the month] and everything's looking promising. I'm really trusting in God that the chemo is working. I know that it has worked some, I just hope that it's worked all the way and that there'll be no residual of any disease left," GG said in the November 2022 video.

"Additionally, she asked her followers to "keep praying."

"I know that the prayers are doing me justice," she said with a smile.

We're glad to see that GG's doing well now as she's been battling health issues for quite some time now.

In Season 5, Episode 10 of Doubling Down With the Derricos, Deon told cameras that GG was previously diagnosed with lung cancer in 2014. Doctors were able to reduce it with chemotherapy, but they weren't successful in getting rid of it completely. That's when viewers learned GG's lung cancer had significantly worsened in recent months.

"When she went to the doctor recently, they told her that the tumor in her lung had grown," Deon said. "She's been dealing with this and bottling this up herself over the last several months."

In the episode titled "The Good Fight," Deon tried to convince GG to see an oncologist in order to explore her treatment options. The thing is, Marian has gone through chemotherapy before — and it left her hesitant to go through it again.

"With my experiences with oncologists, I'm just reluctant to go to another one," GG said. "That diagnosis is frightening. And the thing about it, you can't shake the fear. And then you get to somebody that has been trained to help you, and then they talk to you like you're no longer there. They're just conversing with the disease."

The episode also saw GG attending an appointment at a holistic center, where she had ozone therapy done. "GG is trying alternative treatments like this in hopes of curing cancer," Deon said. "However, even the nurse [practitioner] is saying this won't be enough. We need to get aggressive with this disease."

Ultimately, Deon was able to persuade GG to see a cancer specialist. Dr. Rupesh Parikh helped put GG's anxieties at ease with his approach to treatment. "My philosophy on treating patients is always treating the patient first," the medical oncologist said. "I think if you always put the patient first, everything goes much better."

Dr. Parikh went on to explain that GG has a mass on the right side of her lung roughly the size of a baseball, and that it was partially collapsing her lung. During her appointment, he also informed GG the cancer was inoperable, but he mentioned chemotherapy as well as targeted therapies, including immunotherapy and radiation therapy.

"I'm willing to explore this option if it makes me feel better and gets me more time with my grandbabies," GG explained. "But if it makes me feel sick and weak and I'm unable to spend quality time with my family, hey, continuing to do chemo will not be worth it for me."

Catch new episodes of Doubling Down With the Derricos on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.