Sunrise newsreader Edwina Bartholomew has made the shock revelation that she recently received a cancer diagnosis. “I have some news, and it’s not great news,” she said live on Sunrise. “I have cancer.”
Bartholomew, 41, has been diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. However, Bartholomew remains “positive” about the diagnosis, reassuring colleagues and fans that “it’s a good kind [of cancer]… if that’s actually possible”.
“It can be treated with a daily tablet and if I take care of myself, I will be completely fine,” she said, adding, “I’m just beyond grateful I found it, and beyond grateful it’s the best-case scenario.”
Bartholomew shares two children, Molly, 4, and Tom, 2, with her husband Neil Varcoe. Edwina made the diagnosis public in part because she wanted to encourage other mothers to prioritise their health.
“Please, particularly for mums who always take care of everyone else, please take care of yourself too. And just check in with your doctor,” she encouraged.
In an article published on the Channel 7 website, Bartholomew added that she has not explained the diagnosis to her kids yet. “Our kids are so young we don’t have to explain it to them right now, but I did want to take this opportunity to explain it to you,” she said. “It was important to me to tell you my story because I suspect there are quite a few people out there suffering from a not-so-healthy dose of benign neglect, particularly mums like me. We often take care of everyone else in our family and forget to put on our own oxygen mask first.”
She also opened up about how she received the diagnosis. “After I turned 40 I made the decision to prioritise my health,” Bartholomew elaborated. “I got a skin check after Nat (Barr) had her scare. I had a mammogram after I had a few lumps. That came back all clear. I even had an eye check. That was fine. But my doctor sent me to get routine blood tests at the same time. One of those tests came back with levels out of whack.”
After receiving the diagnosis in July, Bartholomew told “only a few” people at her Channel 7 workplace. She particularly thanked Natalie Barr for “constantly checking in and [for] all the meals as well”. She also thanked Monique Wright and Sally Bowrey, “who shuffled around their family commitments so I could take care of mine.”
“Despite appearances, I feel really positive about it. It genuinely is the luckiest unlucky thing to ever happen to me. I’m just beyond grateful I found it, and beyond grateful it’s the best-case scenario,” she finished her Sunrise segment.
Edwina will be taking time off in September and will later return to Sunrise “a few days a week” when she can.
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire Australia and is republished here with permission.
