Married At First Sight Australia dating expert, Melanie Schilling has just revealed her “whole life changed” after hearing three devastating words.
The Australian TV personality shared that after suffering from ‘severe stomach cramps’ she has been officially diagnosed with colon cancer.
Mel revealed in an instagram post that she had been diagnosed with colon cancer. Instagram
She shared the news under a post of a beautiful photo of her embracing her husband, Gareth Brisbane and daughter, Maddie in front of their Christmas tree in the UK.
She explained how terrifying finding out about her cancer was.
“‘You have cancer’ — Three little words that everyone dreads but no one ever expects to hear. Last Thursday my consultant told me those 3 words.”
Mel shared that she first started experiencing the cramps while filming MAFS in Australia.
She dismissed them assuming they were caused by the amount of travelling she was doing. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.
“I saw my GP in Sydney and he put it down to constipation, gave me some laxatives and sent me on my way.” She explained.
“Fortunately I knew something still wasn’t right so I booked in for a scan when I returned to the UK. On Thursday I was told I had colon cancer and in an instant, my whole life changed.”
“John Lennon famously said that life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans, how right he was.”
Mel is a dating expert on Married At First Sight Australia. Instagram
Unfortunately, Mel’s Christmas plans had been ruined, “This week I had planned to travel to Northern Ireland with my family to spend Christmas with loved ones.”
“Instead tomorrow morning I’m checking in to hospital to have an operation to remove a 5cm tumour in my colon, a tumour that had it gone undetected for much longer would have killed me.”
She remained positive and makes light of the situation, “Despite this, I feel incredibly blessed that it’s a cancer that is relatively easy to eradicate, I’m expected to make a full recovery though it’s a rough road ahead.”
“I also feel so lucky to have an incredible support network around me, both personally and professionally, my own family and my TV family have been amazing this past few days.”
To hear this news at this time of the year, it’s difficult to stay positive, “It will be so tough to spend Xmas Day in hospital instead of being surrounded by family but getting rid of Terry (what I’ve named my tumour) will be the best present of all.”
Mel had previously been unable to spend Christmas due to being in hospital with colon cancer. Instagram
She finished her health update by urging fans to always seek help if something is wrong.
“I just wanted to finish by saying that if something doesn’t feel right, please, please don’t ignore it and if you don’t think the answers you have got are right, keep going until you do, it might just save your life.”
90 percent of colon cancer cases can be treated if caught early and The Australian Department of Health recommends colon cancer screenings for people over 50 every two years.
In light of that, Mel has returned to the set and is filming for MAFS UK once again.
She excitedly shared to Instagram a few snaps with the MAFS UK crew and fellow expert Charlene Douglas.
“She’s baaaccckkk!” Mel captioned the video of her being escorted to set.
Mel was able to drive home for Christmas. Instagram
She revealed that her recent PET scan was ‘all clear’ and the cancer hadn’t spread.
In an interview with Yahoo Lifestyle, Mel shared that she started experiencing symptoms during the filming MAFS.
“At the reunion dinner party I was doubled over in pain and then during the whole reunion shoot, I was just trying to smile through the pain and just get through it.”
“I didn’t know what it was, I thought it was jet lag. I really did. I just thought I’m working too hard, it’s the travel, I’m just not taking care of myself. I really didn’t think it was anything else.”
