Everything to know about ‘Bachelorette’ star Katie Thurston’s breast cancer diagnosis at 34
Katie Thurston, who led Season 17 of “The Bachelorette” in 2021, has been diagnosed with breast cancer at 34 years old.
She revealed the news in February in an emotional Instagram post. At the time, she said she wanted to be open about her health, as reading about other women’s breast cancer journeys helped her amid her own diagnosis.
Thurston first became well-known as a contestant on Season 25 of “The Bachelor,” which starred Matt James. Standing up to bullying in the house earned her fan-favorite status, though she was eliminated in Week Six.
Afterward, she led her own season of “The Bachelorette” reality franchise, which concluded with her getting engaged to Blake Moynes, but they ended their engagement a few months later.
She’s since married comedian Jeff Arcuri on March 22, just a few weeks after receiving her breast cancer diagnosis.
Here’s everything to know about Thurston’s cancer journey.
Katie Thurston announced her breast cancer diagnosis in February 2024
The day after Valentine’s Day, Thurston shared her breast cancer news with her over 730,000 followers.
“Life update: I have breast cancer,” she wrote, adding that her holiday was spent handling logistics regarding insurance, appointments and her treatment, “which will include chemo,” she said.
“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,” Thurston said.
Reflecting on why she decided to go public with her diagnosis, she said reading other young women’s experiences with breast cancer “helped.”
“So I intend to be the same for others. 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 said.
She then thanked her then-fiancé, writing, “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.”
She didn’t know the stage when diagnosed
On her Instagram story, Thurston accepted questions from followers and answered them throughout the day after she announced her diagnosis.
In the series of posts, she shared that she was “waiting on learning what stage” of breast cancer she has and that the process of getting diagnosed started with discovering a small lump in her breast, which she said she initially chalked up to premenstrual syndrome or exercise.
“Went to the doc thinking it was going to be nothing. I was wrong,” she said on her story.
According to “E! News,” she later said her breast cancer was Stage 3, meaning it had spread to muscles or lymph nodes close to the breast, according to the National Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Her breast cancer spread to her liver
In an Instagram update on March 24, she shared that doctors had found spots on her liver, which they believed meant the cancer has spread farther than initially thought.
Days later, on March 28, she confirmed that the lesions on her liver are breast cancer and that she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, aka Stage 4, which is treatable but not curable.
“I know Stage 4 can sound very scary, and it can be. However, given that I am triple positive and the spots on my liver are very small and detected early, I feel very optimistic on my outcome,” she said.
She’s participating in a clinical trial
In her March 24 update, Thurston also shared some content from her clinical trial, called I-SPY, where she is receiving a medication injection to reduce the size of her tumors.
“Do I cry too much?” she said. “Hyperventilating too much? Not brave enough? I’m here to stay as long as they’ll allow it.”
In her March 28 update, Thurston said her treatment plan does include chemotherapy. She said she will start treatment next Friday, April 4.
She’s also said she’s freezing her eggs so she and her husband may have a child via IVF as cancer treatment can often affect fertility.
