Olympian Maia Shibutani ‘Doing Well’ After Past Kidney Tumor

Team USA Olympian Maia Shibutani resides her life to the fullest, four-and-a-half years after she found a tumor she had faraway from her kidney was malignant.

“I’m wholesome and doing effectively,” the 29-year-old instructed PEOPLE solely on the Gold Gala on Saturday, May 11. “Everyone’s love and concern could be very a lot appreciated however I’m pleased to share that I’m wholesome.”

Back in 2019, Maia — who received the ice dance and crew bronze medal along with her brother Alex, 33, on the 2018 Pyeongchang Games — revealed {that a} tumor she had faraway from her kidney was cancerous.

“I got my pathology report back — the tumor that was successfully removed on Saturday was unfortunately malignant (cancer). (SDH)-deficient renal cell carcinoma,” the Olympian wrote on Instagram on Dec. 20, 2019. The tumor was initially found in October after Maia was hospitalized for a abdomen virus. She beforehand mentioned that medical doctors put the chances of the mass being malignant at 60/40.

“This wasn’t the news I was hoping for, but I am beyond thankful that it was detected early and that my surgery went well,” she continued, sharing on the time that “no further treatment is required at this time.”

After the process, Maia detailed that her restoration was “very painful” and “extraordinarily difficult.”

But in the present day, Maia tells PEOPLE she’s “doing nice” and that she and Alex — affectionately dubbed the “Shib Sibs” — have a really busy summer season forward, together with a visit to Paris for the 2024 Olympics,

“We’ll be in Paris this summer season for the Olympics,” Alex mentioned. “I’ll be a photographer there on the bottom and Maia will probably be doing a wide range of completely different media roles.”

“It’s our first summer season Olympics!” Maia chimed in excitedly.

“Paris is an unimaginable metropolis and we’re simply seeking to cheer on Team USA athletes and all the opposite athletes on that stage,” Alex added.

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Speaking of the Olympic stage, the Shibutanis joined fellow Winter Olympians Kristi Yamaguchi, Chloe Kim and Apolo Anton Ohno, and Paralympian Scout Bassett on the Gold Gala to honor three members of Team USA who received crew gold on the 2022 Beijing Olympics: Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou and Madison Chock.

“It was an exquisite night time of celebrating tradition, achievement, group, and allyship,” the brother and sister duo wrote on Instagram after the Gold Gala, which acknowledged Asian/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian excellence in leisure, sports activities, enterprise and extra.

The Shibutanis will probably be highlighting much more Asian excellence of their second ebook, due out subsequent Spring.

“It’s referred to as Incredible: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Changed the World,” Maia shared. “It’ll spotlight 38 earlier and modern trailblazers.”