Just in Time for Christmas, ‘Home Alone’ Actor Ken Hudson Campbell’s Health Improves With Fans' Help

The Gist:

• Ken Hudson Campbell played Santa in Home Alone. He is facing a scary health ordeal.
• Fans stepped up to support the actor via a GoFundMe that made Ken very "emotional."
• Ken lost his health insurance and faces many upcoming expenses.

Ken Hudson Campbell is best known from his turn as Santa in the 1990 Christmas classic Home Alone starring Macaulay Culkin and Catherine O'Hara, among many other A-list actors.

The last few years have been tough for Ken, who was diagnosed with cancer, and underwent a grueling surgery. But in an early holiday miracle, the actor is doing better with the help of fans. Details ahead.

As Ken's daughter Michaela explained to People, her father was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma.

"It was a big tumor in his mouth," she said. "The last two years he's gotten lots of biopsies done and they've tried to control it. And it was only this year that it just got very, very aggressive. So when he got his biopsy in October, that is when we got the diagnosis.”

The timing of the health scare was not ideal, with the Home Alone alum's daughter saying, "He lost his health insurance with SAG and he had to stop going to the same doctors that he had been going to for a while about his mouth. And it discouraged him a little bit and he just didn't really check on it.”

In early Dec. 2023, Ken underwent a 10-hour procedure that included removing lymph nodes and a large part of his jaw bone, per People. His jaw will be reconstructed with part of his leg bone, which was also removed during the surgery. The recovery will be equally grueling.

“I think the hardest part of this is going to be him losing his speech and his ability to talk. So speech therapy is going to play a big role in it,” Michaela detailed about part of her father's six-month recuperation plan, which also involves radiation.

He won't require chemo since the cancer was thankfully removed.

“If he needs extra help, we might put him into a nursing home for a little while, but if not, we're going to take him back home and we still will be hiring post-op care help with that," she also said.

According to Michaela, the GoFundMe she set up for her dad made him "just burst into tears.” Her "emotional" father was also shocked "to feel so loved.”

At time of writing, the campaign for the star had raised $109,000-plus, which is more than their goal.

“It really means the world,” the star's daughter said about the money they have been able to raise to help care for Ken. “My family's been struggling for a long time financially. So just having my dad's friends come together, this is just very overwhelming and it really takes a lot of stress off of my family's shoulders.”

As the GoFundMe campaign reminds fans, they may also know Ken as "the guy Bill Murray kisses in Groundhog Day, or in Armageddon where his character loses his life saving the world from a giant asteroid."

After years working in Hollywood as a film and voice-over actor, Ken's net worth is $2 million according to Celebrity Net Worth.

Despite seemingly having some money in the bank, as his GoFundMe explains, in addition to losing his health insurance, "he's looking at a week in the hospital, dealing with a feeding tube, skin grafts, and a tracheotomy, and we are looking at further recovery possibilities like nursing homes."

Other expenses will include caregivers and skilled nursing, insurance premiums, medical equipment, transportation, dental implants, dentures and "who knows what else."

We wish Ken and his family continued success in his healing journey and send him loving vibes, with the hope that he'll get to spend the holidays surrounded by love and care.