Bachelorette star Katie Thurston found out she has breast cancer earlier this year. But the situation was made a million times worse after she was initially misdiagnosed.
At the time of the diagnosis, Katie Thurston was in the process of moving from California to New York City to be with her now-husband, Jeff Arcuri. They eloped in March after her shocking diagnosis.
She found a lump in her breast and went to the doctor after the lump became painful. Katie Thurston thought it was just a cyst, as she’s had them before in her breasts. Unfortunately, the test results from the hospital in California revealed the lump was cancerous.
According to those tests, she was Stage 3 and HER2 positive, which means a more aggressive cancer. But once she moved to New York, she had to change doctors. She was about to start chemo when the test results came back with different results than the previous tests.
The new tests showed that Katie Thurston has Stage 4 breast cancer but was HER2 negative, which is less aggressive and doesn’t necessarily require chemotherapy.
She revealed a while ago that she’s in the process of seeking accountability from the hospital that initially misdiagnosed her. She recently shared an update on the grievance she filed against Kaiser.
Why It Matters
Katie Thurston still has cancer, regardless of whether it’s HER2 negative or positive. However, when she thought her cancer was more aggressive, she took steps to secure her future fertility. She underwent a procedure to freeze embryos so she could have children with her husband if they wanted to. She said she probably would have done that anyway, but the misdiagnosis rushed the decision.
The misdiagnosis also led to Katie Thurston taking an informational class on chemo, which was very traumatic. She was scheduled to get her first chemotherapy treatment when the new results came in at the last minute. If she hadn’t been misdiagnosed initially, she might have started the oral medication regimen earlier.
Katie Thurston Shares Update On Legal Battle
Katie Thurston is still struggling to understand how the hospital in California made such a massive mistake. She wants to make sure it doesn’t happen to any other breast cancer patients.
She shared on social media in April that she had filed a grievance against Kaiser, the hospital that treated her in California. The Bachelorette star shared an update during a recent Instagram Q&A.
A fan asked how Katie’s diagnosis went from HER2 positive to HER2 negative. “Well to put it politely.. no one knows how [Kaiser] came to the conclusion of HER2+,” Katie replied.
She said that she filed a grievance, but the hospital removed any mention of HER2 in their response. So, the Bachelorette star filed a second grievance to be more specific. The second grievance is still pending.
“I was one day away from unnecessary chemotherapy because of this,” she explained.
Katie Thurston is determined to hold Kaiser responsible to protect others from what she went through due to the misdiagnosis. Do you think she’s doing the right thing? Sound off in the comments.
