Former Bachelorette Katie Thurston has responded to online speculation about her mortality amid her ongoing breast cancer battle.
“I literally wanted to take time away from social media, but then I was getting, like, texts from people I don’t normally hear from,” Thurston, 34, said in an emotional Instagram Story video posted on Friday, September 26. “Then, I got DMs from people, and everyone’s like, ‘Are you OK?’”
She continued, “I’ve seen this article go around before, but something about tonight really f***ing pisses me off. It’s, like, triggering, and I try to report it. There’s just nothing I can do, and I just feel helpless. I’m just so mad right now. Like, if anyone works at Facebook [or] has any suggestion on what I can do, please tell me.”
A handful of social media accounts have recently circulated a fake obituary for Thurston, falsely claiming that she died after one year of fighting breast cancer.
“[I’m] still here. FB is just constant clickbait,” Thurston wrote in another Instagram Story slide on Friday. “Please report these people. They suck!! This is so triggering.”
Thurston was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, one month before marrying now-husband Jeff Arcuri. The reality TV alum’s cancer spread to her liver in March, which elevated her diagnosis to stage IV.
“I wanted to give an update on my latest chapter as someone experiencing [and] navigating stage IV breast cancer,” Thurston said in a social media video shared on September 19. “The thing that people don’t realize with stage IV is I will be on medication for the rest of life. It’s kind of like a maintenance plan, which is great but also can be scary.”
According to Thurston, the cancerous spots on her liver appeared to have “disappeared on its own.” If her next scans come back clean, Thurston will proceed with her intentions to schedule a double mastectomy. (A double mastectomy removes all breast tissue in both breasts to treat bilateral breast cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic.)
“In November, I have scheduled my double mastectomy,” she said earlier this month. “Things are working so far and we’re adjusting.”
Thurston, who does not have a history of breast cancer in her family, initially discovered a lump on one side during a self-exam.
“I had a small lump in my breast around the 10’oclock [sic] spot. I discovered it myself,” she wrote via her Instagram Stories in February. “Thought maybe it was my period [or] maybe it was muscle soreness from working out. But, eventually, this lump never went away.”
Thurston continued, “I thought it was PMS or working out. … My first lump [I previously had with my benign cyst] felt like a pea or marble [and] hard, unnatural, but didn’t cause me discomfort. The second felt larger. The pain initially came and went, but maybe after 3-4 months of it not going away or improving, I got nervous and saw my doctor.”
After undergoing a breast ultrasound, a mammogram and multiple biopsies, Thurston’s doctor diagnosed her with cancer.
