Katie Thurston is sharing a heartbreaking health update.
After the reality star, 34, announced she had breast cancer in February, she is now revealing that the cancer has spread.
“After days of waiting, unfortunately, I did find out today that my breast cancer has spread to the liver,” Thurston detailed in a Friday Instagram video. “It is fairly small, however it does put me at stage four.”
The shocking news came just five days after she married her beau, comedian Jeff Arcuri, in New York City this past weekend.
The newlywed added that she will begin her “new treatment plan” which will involve “chemo” starting Friday, April 4.
“I know stage four can sound very scary, and it can be,” admitted Thurston. “However, given that I am triple positive and the spots on my liver are fairly small and detected early, I feel very optimistic on my outcome.”
The former Bachelorette assured fans that she felt “very confident” with her doctors and their medical care.
Thurston also explained that after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, she went through “several” scans, including a mammogram, ultrasound, CT scan, and MRI.
In February, the ABC star revealed she had stage 3 breast cancer.
“Life update: I have breast cancer,” Thurston wrote, alongside two photos of herself taken by Arcuri.
“Yesterday I saw all the couples post their Valentine’s Day celebrations. I felt envious if I’m being honest,” she penned. “Jeff took me to Hawaii and after, we were going to travel the world before planting roots together in NYC finally. But instead, my Vday was spent coordinating a place to live as I have to go back to LA for more testing and treatment.”
“I experienced a range of emotions over the past two weeks,” she said. “Despair. Anger. Sadness. Denial. And then strength. Purposeful. Ready. I cried a lot. I tried to even make a video instead of this post and couldn’t.”
Thurston added that hearing stories from other women with breast cancer has “helped” her cope with the news.
“So I intend to be the same for others,” she stated. “This is day one of sharing and is going to be a long one. This first step of acceptance of my reality was the hardest. But I am ready to fight this.”
To conclude her message, Thurston thanked Acuri, whom she married on March 22, only weeks before she is set to begin treatment.
“I don’t know how I’d do this without you,” she gushed. “The selfless love that you smother me in is beyond anything I imagined I’d be blessed with. I love you to the fullest in this lifetime and the next. 🤍.”
Thurston also took to her Instagram Stories to explain how the cancer was detected.
“I had a small lump in my breast around the 10’oclock [sic] spot,” she wrote at the time. “I discovered it myself. Thought maybe it was my period [or] maybe it was muscle soreness from working out. But, eventually, this lump never went away.”
After a few months, the lump was still there, which promoted Thurston to undergo a mammogram. The test indicated the presence of cancerous tissue which led to her biopsy.
“Went to the doc thinking it was going to be nothing. I was wrong,” Thurston wrote in an Instagram Q&A at the time. She confessed that the pain “probably led to more doubt and delay in getting it checked out, as lots of [websites] say ‘most breast cancers don’t hurt.’”
