Fashion influencer Bridget Bahl sobbed in a video as she revealed to her more than 1 million followers that she has cancer.
“I’ve been avoiding making this video,” the 40-year-old began her Instagram video on Sunday night. “It’s been a really hard time.”
“I found out I have breast cancer,” she said, later revealing that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes.
The fashion icon will now have to undergo chemotherapy, surgery and possibly radiation to treat the cancer, which she said is “responding very well to targeted treatment, which gives us a lot of hope.”
She then urged all of her followers to do self-examinations and, “if you feel something, you have to say it and you have to get checked and not wait. Don’t wait.”
Fashion influencer Bridget Bahl revealed on Sunday that she has breast cancer
Bahl, who married Texas-based plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Chiodo in a lavish New York City wedding last year, said she and her husband were trying to have a baby when they received the devastating news.
She said she was “maybe a day or two” into fertility treatment and had had a routine ultrasound and blood work with her doctor, when she told him she felt something in her chest.
“And he said, ‘We’re going to stop right now, you have to… go get some pictures done,'” Bahl said through tears.
At first, she said she didn’t think it was anything serious and attributed the lump to a cyst that could have been caused by hormones.
“I felt great,” he said.
Still, she went to a doctor for imaging, who told her, “I don’t like what I see,” and encouraged her to have a biopsy of the mass that same day.
The doctor called back a day later “and unfortunately confirmed that I have breast cancer and it has spread to a lymph node.”
The fashion influencer will now have to undergo chemotherapy, surgery and possibly radiation to treat the cancer.
Bahl said she learned the devastating news while trying to have a child with her husband, Dr. Michael Chiodo.
Despite the grim news, Bahl seemed hopeful.
“I know I’m going to be okay, and I also know that it’s a really scary road ahead of me and I don’t want to walk it, but I believe that by the grace of God I can make it.”
“The last few weeks have been a nightmare, with so many appointments and trying to make plans,” she continued through tears, “and I have felt God so many times throughout this process.”
She then went on to explain that she decided to share the news of her cancer diagnosis with her followers because “it seems like too big an opportunity not to share,” noting that Instagram is made up of 90 percent women.
“I know that by sharing this I’ll help someone else catch it sooner, and that’s reason enough for me,” Bahl added in the caption of his video.
Dr. Chiodo commented in the video that he is ‘proud’ of his wife.
“I’m scared of what’s to come, but I know God creates beauty from ashes. I know He’s here with me, He hasn’t left my side, and I’m going to be okay,” she wrote.
‘I’m not looking forward to the next few months, but I know that this will be a chapter in my life and not the whole book.
Even though it’s hard to see now, I believe God will transform this struggle into something beautiful.
Her husband then commented: “I love you. Everything is going to be okay.”
He then added that he is “proud” of his wife for speaking out.