The Bachelorette star Katie Thurston has spent her Valentine’s Day this year scrambling to make sense of her shock diagnosis.
The 34-year-old shared the news with her fans on Instagram, beginning the post with a sobering: ”Life update: I have breast cancer.”
“Yesterday I saw all the couples post their Valentines Day celebrations. I felt envious if I’m being honest. Jeff took me to Hawaii and after, we were going to travel the world before planting roots together in NYC finally,” she said, speaking of her fiancé, comedian Jeff Arcuri, to whom she has been engaged to since late 2024.
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The reality star said she spent the day of love coordinating a new place to live in LA as she prepared to undergo testing and treatment, as well as scheduling appointments for biopsies, fertility, mental health, surgery, and chemotherapy.
“I experienced a range of emotions over the past two weeks. 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,” she said.
“But one thing I did early on was search other stories like mine. Other young women with breast cancer. Invasive ductal carcinoma. Mastectomy. Pregnancy after breast cancer. All of their stories helped. So I intend to be the same for others.
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“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.”
She even added a Valentine’s Day tribute to her fiancé, telling him, ”I don’t know how I’d do this without you. 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 joined season 25 of The Bachelor as a contestant on Matt James’ season, where she finished in 11th place after being eliminated in week six. She became a fan favourite after standing up to the bullying going on in the house
She later went on to appear on the 17th season of The Bachelorette, getting engaged to the winner Blake Moynes.
They later announced their mutual breakup in October 2021, and one month later confirmed she was in a relationship with John Hersey, a contestant on her season who was eliminated in week two. They broke up in June 2022.
Two years later, she confirmed she was in a relationship with comedian Jeff Arcuri, who she started dating in May 2024. In September, they announced their engagement.
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