Married at First Sight star Mel Schilling has opened up about the “agonising” symptoms of her bowel cancer and admits she initially “ignored” the worrying signs.
After the 51-year-old relationship expert shocked her fans last month when she revealed she was battling colon cancer, Schilling has taken to social media to share her experience and the horrific pain that came with it.
In a video posted to Instagram, Schilling revealed her symptoms which led to her having a tumour that was removed by doctors just before Christmas.
Schilling said she began to feel unwell while filming MAFS in Australia and the UK, stating that she was “doubling over” from terrible stomach cramps.
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READ NOWDespite feeling like her digestive system had “shut down”, she continued to ignore the symptoms due to her busy schedule.
“My body was quite literally screaming at me for attention and I wasn’t listening,” she said in the video.
Schilling said she had to eventually take a break from filming while shooting MAFS Down Under.
A GP later diagnosed the symptoms as “constipation” — however Schilling sensed her symptoms were more severe when she couldn’t eat any food while on a flight to the UK.
“I consider myself a bit of a foodie in fact,’ Mel continued in her post.
”Eating is my great pleasure in life and so for me to be sitting on a plane being offered things like scrambled eggs and smoked salmon and champagne - all of my favourite things...
“And to be turning them down and thinking well ‘I just don’t even want a cup of tea’ — that was a warning sign for me.”
Mel ended the video by thanking her fans for their support, and urging people to prioritise their health in the new year.
Last month, Schilling updated her fans on a recent keyhole surgery she had, to remove a 5cm tumour — which she nicknamed Terry — from her colon.
The relationship expert is set to appear on both MAFS Australia and MAFS in the U.K.