Edwina Bartholomew broke down on Friday’s episode of Sunrise, tearfully admitting she had been diagnosed with cancer.
Edwina, 44, told her morning TV show audience that she had been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML.
“He’s a really good guy,” said the mother of two. “It’s treatable with a pill a day. If I can take care of myself, I’ll be completely fine,” she said of the cancer.
According to the Foundation against leukemiaChronic myeloid leukemia is a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
CML causes the bone marrow to make too many white blood cells called granulocytes.
These cells, also called leukemic blasts, fill the bone marrow and interfere with the production of normal blood cells.
Cells also “leave” the bone marrow and circulate throughout the body through the bloodstream.
Approximately 330 Australians are diagnosed with CML each year, representing just 0.03 per cent of all cancers diagnosed.
Edwina Bartholomew broke down on Friday’s episode of Sunrise, tearfully admitting that she has been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).
The foundation says CML can occur at any age, but is much more common in people over 40, who account for nearly 70 percent of all diagnoses.
It also occurs more frequently in men than in women.
CML usually develops gradually in its early stages and progresses slowly through three phases: chronic, accelerated, and blastic, over weeks to months.
According to the Leukemia Foundation, CML is a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
Approximately 330 Australians are diagnosed with CML each year, representing just 0.03 per cent of all cancers diagnosed.
More than 90 percent of patients are diagnosed in the early chronic phase and blood counts remain relatively stable and the proportion of blast cells in the blood and bone marrow is usually five percent or less.
Most people have few or no worrying symptoms of their disease in the chronic phase.
The foundation says CML progresses from a relatively stable disease to a more rapidly progressive one in just five percent of cases. In this accelerated phase, the proportion of blast cells in the bone marrow and blood can increase.
If left untreated, accelerated phase CML can progress to blast phase CML; however, there is generally a less than 5 percent risk that it will transform into a rapidly progressive disease similar to acute leukemia.
The risk is reduced to just one percent for patients who have a positive response to drug therapy.
Approximately two-thirds of blast phase CML cases transform into acute myeloid leukemia-like disease, and the remainder transform into acute lymphoblastic leukemia-like disease.
While treatment depends largely on the stage of the disease, age, and health, most patients for CML will be treated with medications called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).
These drugs block the activity of an enzyme called bcr-abl that prevents the growth and proliferation of these leukemia cells.
The veteran Seven star has children Molly, four, and Thomas, two, with her husband of six years, Neil Varcoe.