Married at First Sight star Mel Schilling has shared an update with fans after revealing she has been diagnosed with cancer.
Earlier this week, Schilling, 51, uploaded a photo hugging her husband Gareth Brisbane, 51, and their daughter Madison, eight.
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"YOU HAVE CANCER,” she wrote in the caption.
"Three little words that everyone dreads but no one ever expects to hear. Last Thursday my consultant told me those three words."
She went on to explain that 'about a month ago', she developed 'severe stomach cramps' on set when she was filming in Australia.
"I put it down to all the travel I’d been doing and the upset it caused to my system," she went on. "I saw my GP in Sydney and he put it down to constipation, gave me some laxatives and sent me on my way.
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"Fortunately I knew something still wasn’t right so I booked in for a scan when I returned to the UK."
She said she had planned to travel to Northern Ireland this week ‘to spend Christmas with loved ones’, but that instead she’d be ‘checking in to hospital to have an operation’ to remove a 5cm tumour from her colon - which would have ‘killed’ her if it had gone undetected for much longer.
Schilling has now had the op, telling fans happily that the tumour - nicknamed ‘Terry’ - was now ‘toast’.
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Along with several posts on her Stories, she shared a selfie on the grid of her lying in bed, smiling at the camera with a thumbs up.
“Terry, you are the weakest link… goodbye!” the dating expert said.
“So yesterday lunchtime I had keyhole surgery to remove my tumour (AKA Terry) and in the words of my amazing surgeon it couldn’t have gone any better!
"Crucially the cancer hadn’t spread to my abdominal cavity, which was our greatest fear but was entirely localized in my colon. Over the coming days I will discuss my treatment plan going forwards but suffice to say that Terry is toast!
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“I have been absolutely blown away by the countless messages of support I have received from all of you beautiful people, I am so very touched and can honestly say it’s made a difference, so thank you all."
Schilling went on to thank the NHS, saying she wasn't talking about 'the funding, the structure or the waiting lists', but 'just the people'.
“Everyone from my consultant to the surgical team and especially the wonderful nurses managing my recovery have been just superb," she said.
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"It’s not just their professionalism but also their genuine concern, bedside manner (especially the nurses) and their endlessly sunny disposition, despite working up to 14 hour days. I owe all of these wonderful people my life and I will be forever indebted to them. The NHS is a unique, precious institution we need to make sure it’s here to serve our children and our children’s children.
“Now, it’s time to focus on getting my a** out of here in time for Christmas.”
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Married At First Sight, Married At First Sight Australia, Mel Schilling
Jess Hardiman