Saved By The Bell Legend Dustin Diamond Dead At 44 After Succumbing To Cancer

Less than three weeks after Dustin Diamond was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer after discovering a lump in his throat, the 44-year-old has reportedly passed away.

A rep for Diamond told TMZ that he died Monday morning after his conditionally greatly declined over the past couple weeks. Doctors had taken the actor off breathing machines in an attempt to move him to hospice care, but the transition was never executed.

Diamond checked into a Florida hospital the first week in January after suffering from pain all over his body. Doctors claim the cancer had started somewhere else in his body before metastasizing in his lungs, an almost certain death sentence, on top of suffering from pain associated with shingles.

The actor’s family reportedly has a “history of cancer,” with his mother passing away from breast cancer years back.

Diamond has had a tough go at it in recent years with bankruptcy and various legal run-ins, but his passing stings for anyone who grew up on Saved By The Bell. It’s hard to imagine anyone pull off Screech’s character as skillfully and convincingly as Dustin Diamond, and he will forever be a legend in the halls of Bayside.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again.

Fuck Cancer.

And may the halls of heaven be stacked with a billion Lisa Turtles.