MAFS Star Mel Schilling Will Spend Christmas In Hospital After Cancer Diagnosis

20 December 2023, 12:58

Married at First Sight UK star Mel Schilling has shared the heartbreaking news that she has cancer and will spend Christmas in hospital.

Mel Schilling took to social media on Tuesday to share that she was diagnosed with colon cancer after seeking medical advice while feeling unwell during filming in Australia.

The Married at First Sight star, who is a relationship expert on the UK and Australian versions of the show, will spend Christmas in hospital to have a 5cm tumour removed from her colon.

Mel, aged 51, shared the health update on Instagram alongside a sweet photo of her with her husband Gareth and daughter Madison, eight, in front of their Christmas tree.

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The TV star said she feels ‘incredibly blessed’ that it’s a cancer which tends to be ‘relatively easy to eradicate’ and is expected to make a full recovery despite having a ‘rough road ahead’.

MAFS' Mel Schilling reveals Christmas tip

She began her post: “‘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 added: “About a month ago when I was filming in Australia I developed severe stomach cramps on set, I put it down to all the travel I’d been doing and the upset it caused to my system. I saw my GP in Sydney and he put it down to constipation, gave me some laxatives and sent me on my way. 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.”

Mel said she had planned to travel to Northern Ireland this Christmas to see her family, instead she checked into hospital on Wednesday morning.

She went on: “John Lennon famously said that life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans, how right he was. 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.

“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.”

Mel finished her post by urging her followers to listen to their bodies if something doesn’t feel right and that she’ll be spending Christmas Day in hospital to have her tumour removed.

She continued: “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. 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.”

Colon cancer, a form of bowel cancer, is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK.

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