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Privacy Notice Mel Schilling is known for her warm, honest advice as a dating expert on Channel 4âs Married At First Sight. But away from the glamorous reality show, she has been battling colon cancer and tells OK! there have been times when she âcould have gone to that dark placeâ. The 52-year-old was diagnosed with the disease just before Christmas last year, having noticed changes while she was filming MAFS in Australia. âIt was November when things really started to escalate. I was on set and I was doubled over in pain,â Mel remembered. âI just kept putting it down to travel, I knew I was run down. Last year was probably the biggest year of my career â I knew I was exhausted so I just kept saying to myself, âThatâs all it is, Iâm overtired and jet-lagged.â
Married At First Sight expert Mel Schilling spoke exclusively to OK! about her cancer battle
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âMy digestive system was complaining at that point and I was starting to get cramps.â Having started HRT (hormone replacement therapy) six months before, Mel wondered if that could have been the cause of the discomfort as her body adjusted and at one point she also thought it was period pain. âI didnât pay enough attention to it,â Mel admitted. âI think as women, we do this because we so often have pain in our abdominal area that it has become normalised.â She said: âI was doubled over and shouting â the pain was so intense.â In a break from filming, Mel visited a GP in Australia who put her symptoms down to constipation, sending her away with âsachets of medicineâ, and telling her sheâd be fine.
The relationship expert recalled that she was in “so much pain” during a trip with her husband Gareth and daughter Maddie
Wrapping up the show in Oz, Mel said: âI managed to get through the final night of filming MAFS, and I donât know how, and returned to the UK.â In addition to the pain, Mel added that her appetite had disappeared, which she found âquite alarmingâ. She went on a trip to Ireland with her husband Gareth, 51, and nine-year-old daughter Maddie. By that point, Mel told us: âI was in so much pain, I couldnât hold down any food. âI hadnât done a poo for three weeks and was just vomiting â I couldnât even hold down water.â As soon as they arrived back in London, Mel went to see a gastroenterologist who was âpretty concernedâ over her symptoms and unexplained weight loss. This was followed by a CT scan within 24 hours and a couple of days later Mel and her husband went to get the results. âWe were sitting in his office and the doctor had a blank look and I thought, âThis doesnât seem right,â and he said, âItâs cancer.â
“We were sitting in his office and the doctor had a blank look and I thought, âThis doesnât seem right'”, Mel recalled
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
âI think I was numb, I didnât process it and I went into work mode, thatâs all I could focus on. Gareth, on the other hand, really felt it, he was very much in the moment â he had to leave at one point because it was just so overwhelming. âWe had lost Garethâs brother unexpectedly only around five months before, so he was still very much grieving. He was thinking, âIâve lost my brother, now Iâm going to lose Mel too.ââ On 20 December 2023, Mel had a 5cm tumour removed that was âblocking everything and was growing pretty quicklyâ. In the same surgery, Mel had 38 lymph nodes removed from around her bowel â six of them were cancerous already. Mel, who named her tumour ‘Terry’ to find some humour in something that was âpretty darkâ, shared: âThe minute Terry left the building the pain stopped â it was a massive relief and it felt amazing having him out of my body.â
On 20 December 2023, Mel had a 5cm tumour removed that was âblocking everything and was growing pretty quicklyâ
(Image: Instagram/Mel Schilling)
Mel also had 38 lymph nodes removed from around her bowel
(Image: Instagram/Mel Schilling)
As the cancer spread through the colon wall into the muscle, she now needs chemotherapy. But before Mel starts the treatment at the end of this month, sheâs taking a well-deserved trip to Tenerife to soak up some sunshine. The star is positive about the next step in her recovery and told us: âI havenât thought too much about it. I have learnt a lot about the type of chemo but I donât know what itâll be like for me. âBut itâs a form that is not too taxing on the body, so I will still be working,â she said, promising she will also make sure she has a lot of âdowntime, rest and recovery timeâ. One side effect that Mel is bracing herself for is feeling the cold and she shares that sheâs looking into some âreally good gloves and scarvesâ as she speaks to us from the comfort of her bed, before heading out to get some thermals.
The next step for Mel is chemotherapy but she’s feeling positive about it and is still able to work
Mel is completely honest when it comes to how sheâs been feeling through her cancer diagnosis and said: âI would consider myself a very strong optimist. I didnât allow myself to go to those dark places, because I did have some concerning changes in my lungs and liver. âTheyâre all fine now, but there were moments where I could have gone into that dark place, but I didnât go there, for better or worse. I would say the challenge was the severity of the pain. Iâd put it on par with the contractions of being in labour â a debilitating pain.â Continuing with her recovery, Mel said: âIâm feeling excited about everything to come. I donât see this as a block to my future at all. For me, itâs one day at a time.
“I donât see this as a block to my future at all. For me, itâs one day at a time”
(Image: Matt Monfredi/Channel 4)
Mel is one of the experts on Married At First Sight along with Charlene Douglas and Paul C. Brunson
(Image: E4)
âThe next step is chemo and getting through that. The key message for me, personally, is to listen to my body because I wasnât and thatâs what got me in trouble. âSo thatâs definitely part of going forward, building in downtime and being much more in tune with my body.â As well as providing regular updates on Instagram, Mel is also developing a documentary about colon cancer to help raise further awareness. âItâs a cancer that people find so difficult to talk about because it involves poo, but itâs something I am comfortable talking about,â she said. Weâre grateful for her sharing her story and wish her all the best for her upcoming treatment. Get well soon, Mel.Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnMarried At First SightHealth
