Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian has undergone preventative cancer surgery.

The 41-year-old Reddit cofounder - who married the tennis star in 2017 - has revealed he went under the knife to remove half of his thyroid after doctors found nodules which were likely to become cancerous and he admitted he has long been terrified of the disease after his mom's death from cancer.

In a post on Instagram, Alexis updated followers on his health revealing doctors have been keeping an eye on his thyroid issues for four years. He wrote: "After tracking some suspicious nodules on my thyroid for the last 4 years, I recently got half of it surgically removed.

"The nodules were getting bigger and the latest biopsy revealed they'd very likely turn cancerous."

He went on to reveal he's been careful about his health since the loss of his mother, who died in her 50s after battles with breast and brain cancer.

Alexis added: "My mom had breast cancer around this age (41) and then ultimately died from brain cancer a decade or so later. I hate cancer.

"I wasn't gonna take any chances; the surgery was smooth and I'm extra grateful this Thanksgiving because I got the call this morning that my now-removed-half-of-thyroid was indeed full of some gnarly nodules that were very likely to become cancerous."

The tech businessman is dad to two daughters - Olympia, seven, and 15-month-old Adira - with the tennis star and he admits he's looking forward to recovering so he can take them to Disney World.

He added: "The worst part tbh has been not being able to lift for 2 weeks but big fella will be back at it next week and I took my girls to Disney World this week so life is wonderful."

Alexis concluded his post by urging other men to get their health issues checked out because it could save their life.

He wrote: "To my fellow, men - make those doctor's appointments - especially if y'all are dads. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone."