It’s with a prayerful heart that I report that Marlyne Barrett revealed she has been diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer.
The 44-year-old actress stars as Nurse Maggie Lockwood on NBC’s “Chicago Med.”
In an exclusive interview with People, Marlyne revealed she was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine in July.
Marlyne Barrett underwent hernia repair surgery in April and she didn’t feel well after that.
“I had this accumulation of fluid [in my abdomen] that I couldn’t shake,” she said. “I looked like I was nine months pregnant. And I also had shortness of breath, but no pain, which was interesting.”
She was stunned when doctors informed her on July 18 that she had a tumor the size of a football on her uterus and left ovary.
Marlyne called the diagnosis a “shock to my womanhood” because her family has no history of ovarian or uterine cancers.
“I didn’t believe them, but when they showed me the CT scan, I went, ‘Oh, my word.’ The first questions were, ‘Am I going to live?’ I just fell into my husband’s arms. It still takes my breath away when I think about it.”
Marlyne Barrett credits her family for their support, including her husband Gavin Barrett, and their 11-month-old twins, Joshua-Jireh and Anne-N’urya.
She included her children in the process of shaving her head as she prepares to undergo her third round of chemotherapy at City of Hope medical center in Los Angeles.
“My hair has always been an essence of beauty,” she said. “But I took my own razor, and I shaved my head. I did it in front of my babies so they’d see it was still Mommy. I wept, I wept, I wept. But it was a beautiful experience to do it in front of them.”
On Tuesday, Marlyne shared a gorgeous photo of herself on Instagram with her shaved head.
She is continuing to film “Chicago Med,” but she starts her day an hour early and she takes naps to make sure she’s getting the rest she needs.
Occasionally, she will take a day off from the set.
Ironically, in 2019, her storyline on “Chicago Med” involved her character Maggie battling breast cancer.
Marlyn says she is taking it “one day at a time.”
I send my heart, my love, and my prayers to her.
Source: People
