What caused Alex Duong’s death?
What caused Alex Duong’s death?
What is alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma’s prognosis?
Who supported Alex Duong’s benefit comedy show?
Comedian Alex Duong has died after a year-long battle with a rare and aggressive cancer. He was 42.
“With the heaviest hearts, we share that our dear Alex passed away peacefully this morning, surrounded by love and dear friends,” friend Hilarie Steele wrote in a March 28 update shared on Duong’s GoFundMe page. “He was comfortable and thankfully out of pain.”
The prior day, Steele said, Duong went into septic shock in the hospital and was “fighting for his life.”
Duong’s alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosis came after he developed a headache at the beginning of 2025 and one day others noticed his left eye was bulging, he told the Los Angeles Times last year. He lost vision in his affected eye and within months owed $400,000 in medical costs. Duong’s cancer, which required extensive radiation and chemotherapy, eventually metastasized to his spine, and he was “bedridden” as of February.
Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, an “aggressive” soft-tissue tumor that usually affects children, has “high local recurrence and metastasis tendency” in adults and “has the worst prognosis” of rhabdomyosarcoma diagnoses, according to a 2019 report in the International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research.Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!
The cause of rhabdomyosarcoma has not yet been determined due to its lack of prevalence, with “only several hundred new cases per year in the United States,” per the National Library of Medicine.
Duong had dozens of TV credits, from “Dexter” Season 3 to “The Young and the Restless” in 2011, “Pretty Little Liars” Season 4 and “Blue Bloods” (he made several appearances as Sonny Le in seasons 12-14). Up until his diagnosis, he was working at the West Hollywood, California, Comedy Store and performing standup sets.
In August, friends including comedians Ronny Chieng, Atsuko Okatsuka, Andrea Jin and Fumi Abe, put on a benefit comedy show – which ultimately raised $10,000 – to support Duong and his family.
“Comedians always have each other’s backs when times are [explicit],” Duong told the LA Times of the support he was receiving. “We know how hard it is to pine and struggle and scrape by in this lifestyle, just so we can do these jokes and keep improving. It’s a beautiful thing to see in this world; it really is.”
Duong’s GoFundMe will be used to fund his memorial service, his daughter Everest’s caregiving and other living costs, with a celebration of life forthcoming.
Duong is survived by his wife, Christina, and his 5-year-old daughter, Everest.
