Love Is Blind star Shaina Hurley has revealed she was diagnosed with cancer when she was three months pregnant.
The 34-year-old TV personality, who is now mum to seven-month-old Yiorgos with husband Christos Lardakis, discovered she had stage 2 cervical cancer after a routine Pap test came back abnormal.
Hurley refused a procedure that would “most likely” cause her to miscarry and chemotherapy, despite doctors’ wishes. She also refused to give birth to her son early, at 32 weeks, and held firm until 37.5 weeks.
She said People: ‘I had no symptoms. But then the doctor called me and said that the results of the Pap test had been abnormal and that I needed to have a colposcopy.
Doctors recommended she undergo a cold knife conization, which involved removing tissue from the cervix, and Hurley said: “The problem was that I was pregnant. The cervix is what holds the pregnancy. I was in my third month, so I was most likely going to lose the baby. At that point, I couldn’t take any chances.
Love Is Blind star Shaina Hurley has revealed she was diagnosed with cancer when she was three months pregnant.
The 34-year-old TV personality, who is now mum to seven-month-old son Yiorgos with husband Christos Lardakis, discovered she had stage 2 cervical cancer after a routine Pap test came back abnormal.
Hurley was advised to submit laparoscopic surgery to make sure the cancer had not spread to the lymph nodes, after which doctors recommended chemotherapy.
Hurley said he refused this treatment because the disease had not spread and he had no symptoms.
Doctors wanted baby Yiorgos to be born at 32 weeks so they could see if the cancer had spread, but Hurley refused and postponed the delivery until 37/5 weeks. Yiorgos was born healthy by Caesarean section at this gestation.
The star said her decision to refuse treatment had sparked ‘battles’ between her and her husband: ‘He wanted the baby but he was also saying, ‘Shaina, I don’t want to lose my wife. I want you to be here to raise the baby.’
She said her “faith and strong will” kicked in and that because she suffered a miscarriage before having her child, “nothing could stop me” from continuing with a healthy pregnancy.
Two weeks after giving birth in February, she suffered a mini-stroke (TIA) that caused her face to droop and her hands to go numb.
She recovered without side effects, but four weeks later she underwent a cold knife conization, which failed because the cancer was “still there.”
Six weeks later, they tried again and two weeks later she was told she was cancer-free.
Hurley said she is now focused on being a mother, but will have to go to regular medical check-ups every three months. She also plans to have more children in the future.
The star said her decision to refuse treatment had sparked ‘battles’ between her and her husband, saying: ‘He wanted the baby but he was also saying: ‘Shaina, I don’t want to lose my wife. I want you to be here to raise the baby.’
She said her “faith and strong will” kicked in and that because she suffered a miscarriage before having her child, “nothing was going to allow me” to continue with a healthy pregnancy.
Shaina appeared in the second season of the streaming platform’s dating series, which premiered in February 2022.
While on the show, Hurley became engaged to cast member Kyle Abrams after her romantic connection with Shayne Jansen didn’t work out.
Hurley later ended her engagement with Abrams before leaving the show.
She and her now-husband had dated for over a year before tying the knot in a Chicago courthouse in July 2022.