INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Mob Wives’ ?Star Big Ang? Battles Brain And Lung ?Cancer — Tells Dr. Oz ‘It’s Destroying Me’

By Stephen Jordan
Published on: 08:31 PST, Feb 16, 2016

Mob Wives‘ ?Big Ang (Angela Raiola) has been dealing with a 40-year-long addiction to smoking. The VH1 reality star has recently opened up about her hardships and is urging viewers to quit smoking, since she attributes her stage four brain and lung cancer to smoking, according to the New York Daily News.

Big Ang, who is 55-years-old, told Dr. Oz, “It’s destroying me. I can’t believe what I look like. Instead of it getting better, it’s getting worse.”

Big Ang broke down in tears in the middle of an interview with Mehmet Oz on The Dr. Oz Show, where she discussed her difficult battle with cancer. The mother of two and grandmother of six once had long, dark hair, but it is now pale and cut short in anticipation of chemotherapy, when she will lose it all together. Fans got a glimpse into her battle on the 10th episode of Mob Wives.

'Mob Wives' ?Star Big Ang? Battles Brain And Lung ?Cancer - She Tells Dr. Oz 'It's Destroying Me'
Reality TV Star Angela “Big Ang” Raiola attends AOL’s CONNECTED Celebrates The Death Of FAKE Reality TV. [Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for AOL]

“I look at my kids and my grandchildren and I know how much they need me,” Big Ang told Dr. Oz.

Big Ang first received her diagnosis last March, and upon hearing the news, she immediately stopped smoking. Raiola’s doctors confirmed that her cancer was “positively” caused by her many years of smoking. Last spring, she underwent surgery to have a tumor the size of a lemon removed from her neck and had her lymph nodes removed during an eight-hour procedure.

“Sometimes I feel I’m gonna be fine, and sometimes I just don’t think I am,” she told Oz.

Big Ang is currently living in Staten Island with her daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren. Big Ang says she was fortunate enough to have been diagnosed as cancer-free twice, however, the disease returned and continued to spread following the failure of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Big Ang’s little sister, Janine Detore, went as far as to create a GoFundMe page for her older sister to help acquire money for cannabis oil. So far, they have made $44,000.

“Well here we are at the emergency room waiting to see why her breathing is labored and the amount of pain she is having is by far more than she could handle. So I suggested cannabis oil as an alternative. This is why I am putting up this go fund me to try to help my sister to get this oil to help her at least be pain free.”

On January 26, Big Ang’s doctor reviewed her CT scan, informing her and the family that the chemotherapy treatment was not working. One of her tumors had grown larger, and the other tumors did not change. The family was advised that they would need to start immunotherapy the following week.

Big Ang’s doctors are now taking a much more advanced approach, which is going to help boost her body’s immune system.

Angela “Big Ang” Raiola first made her television debut on the second season of the VH1 show and has owned it for several years. Raiola’s uncle was the late Salvatore “Sally Dogs” Lombardi, who was a captain of the Genovese crime family. After spending some time on Mob Wives, Big Ang was able to get her own spinoff, though it was short-lived. The second season of her spinoff, Big Ang, was changed into a different spinoff called Miami Monkey, which premiered on September 8, 2013. Her interview with Dr. Oz will air on Tuesday, February 16.

[Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images]

Share this article: ‘Mob Wives’ ?Star Big Ang? Battles Brain And Lung ?Cancer — Tells Dr. Oz ‘It’s Destroying Me’
vh1 Mob Wives
More from Inquisitr