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Privacy Notice Mel Schilling is known for her warm, honest advice as a dating expert on Channel 4’s 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 “could have gone to that dark place”. The 52-year-old was diagnosed with the disease just before Christmas last year, having noticed changes while she was filming MAFS in Australia. “It was November when things really started to escalate. I was on set and I was doubled over in pain,” Mel remembered. “I just kept putting it down to travel, I knew I was run down. Last year was probably the biggest year of my career – I knew I was exhausted so I just kept saying to myself, ‘That’s all it is, I’m overtired and jet-lagged.’
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“My digestive system was complaining at that point and I was starting to get cramps.” 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. “I didn’t pay enough attention to it,” Mel admitted. “I think as women, we do this because we so often have pain in our abdominal area that it has become normalised.” She said: “I was doubled over and shouting – the pain was so intense.” In a break from filming, Mel visited a GP in Australia who put her symptoms down to constipation, sending her away with “sachets of medicine”, and telling her she’d 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: “I managed to get through the final night of filming MAFS, and I don’t know how, and returned to the UK.” In addition to the pain, Mel added that her appetite had disappeared, which she found “quite alarming”. She went on a trip to Ireland with her husband Gareth, 51, and nine-year-old daughter Maddie. By that point, Mel told us: “I was in so much pain, I couldn’t hold down any food. “I hadn’t done a poo for three weeks and was just vomiting – I couldn’t even hold down water.” As soon as they arrived back in London, Mel went to see a gastroenterologist who was “pretty concerned” 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. “We were sitting in his office and the doctor had a blank look and I thought, ‘This doesn’t seem right,’ and he said, ‘It’s cancer.’
“We were sitting in his office and the doctor had a blank look and I thought, ‘This doesn’t seem right'”, Mel recalled
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“I think I was numb, I didn’t process it and I went into work mode, that’s all I could focus on. Gareth, on the other hand, really felt it, he was very much in the moment – he had to leave at one point because it was just so overwhelming. “We had lost Gareth’s brother unexpectedly only around five months before, so he was still very much grieving. He was thinking, ‘I’ve lost my brother, now I’m going to lose Mel too.’” On 20 December 2023, Mel had a 5cm tumour removed that was “blocking everything and was growing pretty quickly”. In the same surgery, Mel had 38 lymph nodes removed from around her bowel – six of them were cancerous already. Mel, who named her tumour ‘Terry’ to find some humour in something that was “pretty dark”, shared: “The minute Terry left the building the pain stopped – it was a massive relief and it felt amazing having him out of my body.”
On 20 December 2023, Mel had a 5cm tumour removed that was “blocking everything and was growing pretty quickly”
(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, she’s 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: “I haven’t thought too much about it. I have learnt a lot about the type of chemo but I don’t know what it’ll be like for me. “But it’s a form that is not too taxing on the body, so I will still be working,” she said, promising she will also make sure she has a lot of “downtime, rest and recovery time”. One side effect that Mel is bracing herself for is feeling the cold and she shares that she’s looking into some “really good gloves and scarves” 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 she’s been feeling through her cancer diagnosis and said: “I would consider myself a very strong optimist. I didn’t allow myself to go to those dark places, because I did have some concerning changes in my lungs and liver. “They’re all fine now, but there were moments where I could have gone into that dark place, but I didn’t go there, for better or worse. I would say the challenge was the severity of the pain. I’d put it on par with the contractions of being in labour – a debilitating pain.” Continuing with her recovery, Mel said: “I’m feeling excited about everything to come. I don’t see this as a block to my future at all. For me, it’s one day at a time.
“I don’t see this as a block to my future at all. For me, it’s 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)
“The next step is chemo and getting through that. The key message for me, personally, is to listen to my body because I wasn’t and that’s what got me in trouble. “So that’s definitely part of going forward, building in downtime and being much more in tune with my body.” As well as providing regular updates on Instagram, Mel is also developing a documentary about colon cancer to help raise further awareness. “It’s a cancer that people find so difficult to talk about because it involves poo, but it’s something I am comfortable talking about,” she said. We’re 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
