‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ Star Beth Chapman Undergoes Emergency Surgery: Reports

From the reality television show Dog The Bounty Hunter Beth Smith (L) and Duane 'Dog' Chapman arrive to A&E Television Networks Upfront celebration held at Rockefeller Center April 21, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Fernando Leon/Getty Images)

The wife of reality TV star “Dog the Bounty” hunter was rushed to surgery to remove a life-threatening tumor, it was reported.

TMZ on Nov. 27 reported that Beth Chapman’s surgery had ended, and doctors told the outlet that she has throat cancer. “Doctors say it’s too early to give a prognosis, but it’s serious. They’re currently evaluating treatment options,” the report stated.

Chapman was rushed to Cedars-Senai Medical Center in Los Angeles in the early morning hours, and that’s when doctors found a mass in her throat.

“She’s at Cedars-Sinai right now,” Dog’s son Duane Lee told the New York Post. “It’s life-threatening.”

Meanwhile, The Blast website reported the surgery was “life or death.”

Last year, she underwent surgery to remove a tumor in her throat.

“As most of you know, I’ve spent a lifetime facing tests and challenges I didn’t see coming and certainly never expected,” she wrote of the diagnosis last year. “I’ve been dealt my share of unexpected blows over the course of my almost 50 years but nothing as serious as the one I heard from my doctors two weeks ago when they uttered those dreaded three words, ‘You have cancer.’

“After months of a nagging cough, a routine checkup resulted in a diagnosis of stage II throat cancer,” she added. “I have what is referred to as a T2 Tumor in my throat that is blocking my breathing. My doctors are suggesting immediate treatment and surgery before the disease progresses.”

“I take it one day at a time,” Beth said at the time of her recovery, People magazine reported. “And I believe in the power of prayer.”

Throat cancer symptoms include a cough, changes in your voice like hoarseness or not speaking clearly, difficulty swallowing, ear pain, a sore throat, a lump that doesn’t heal, and weight loss. Risk factors include tobacco use, including smoking and chewing tobacco, as well as alcohol abuse, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Other risk factors include a sexually transmitted virus called human papillomavirus, a diet lacking in fruits and vegetables, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Like other forms of cancer, surgery, radiation therapy,  chemotherapy, and targeted drug therapy are options when dealing with throat cancer, the Mayo Clinic notes.

Hunting Man Who Threatened Trump?

Several months ago, Dog, whose real name is Duane Chapman, said he would join the search for an elusive fugitive who made posts on Facebook that he would shoot President Donald Trump and a local district attorney in Pennsylvania.

Dog was hired by a friend of the then-fugitive, Shawn Christy.

“I have a very hot lead,” Chapman told the Mansfield News Journal. “I have delivered messages to him. My goal is not to shoot him but get him to surrender.”

Christy was arrested after spending three months on the lam in Ohio in September, federal marshals said, according to the Allentown Morning Call. “He was actively hiding,” U.S. Marshal Anne Murphy told the paper. “And he was hiding from the time that he heard our guys moving. He eventually surrendered, yes, but he hid from our team on the ground.”