Former Bachelorette Katie Thurston has revealed that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She shared the news on Instagram on February 15 in a lengthy statement and answered questions about the diagnosis in her Instagram stories.
“Life update: I have breast cancer,” she wrote in the caption of photos of herself. She admitted to being “envious” seeing couples sharing about their Valentine’s Day celebrations the day before. While her fiancé and comedian Jeff Arcuri took her to Hawai’i and they had plans to travel the world before settling in New York, “instead, my Vday was spent coordinating a place to live as I have to go back to LA for more testing and treatment. I used my morning to figure out insurance for NYC and laws on preexisting conditions,” she said. “I scheduled appointments for another biopsy, fertility, mental health, surgery, as well as meeting with my team to discuss the overall treatment plan, which will include chemo.”
Thurston admitted to feeling “a range of emotions over the past two weeks. Despair. Anger. Sadness. Denial. And then strength. Purposeful. Ready. I cried a lot.” She considered sharing the news in a video but “couldn’t.”
She wrote that she looked up stories like hers, of “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. 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 concluded with “the best for last,” writing a message to Arcuri: “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 also answered questions on her Instagram stories. She shared that she had a small lump in her breast that “never went away. … Went to the doc thinking it was going to be nothing. I was wrong.” She’s “waiting on learning what stage. Getting another biopsy on my lymph node which will tell me more.” A 23andme told her that she didn’t have the BRCA gene, though she plans to do updated genetic testing, and there isn’t a history of breast cancer in her family.
One person asked if she’ll have chemo or a mastectomy first, and she wrote in reply, “Yes to both. Not sure on the order yet. My fertility will be impacted by chemo so I have an [appointment] with my fertility doctor to preserve my eggs.”
Bachelor Nation met Thurston in The Bachelor Season 25 with Matt James. She then went on to lead her own season of The Bachelorette, the 17. Though she and Blake Moynes ended it engaged, their relationship ended a few months later. She revealed in September 2024 that she and Arcuri were engaged on Instagram. “When you know, you know,” she wrote alongside photos and video of the couple.