Marlyne Barrett has revealed to her fans that she's fighting a crushing health diagnosis.
The Chicago Med actress is battling both uterine and ovarian cancer after doctors discovered a football-sized tumor in July.
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Speaking to People magazine, Marlyne, who plays nurse Maggie Lockwood in the hit show, opened up about her private battle admitting "there's no running from it".
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"I'm an extremely private person, but I felt a responsibility to tell my story," the 44-year-old - whose character fought cancer in the medical drama - said. "When my character went through breast cancer, I had a sea of people reach out to me through social media. They brought me courage, and so I felt a sense of inevitability to meet their hearts where they met me."
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Marlyne was recovering from a hernia surgery when she began feeling unwell. "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."
Marlyne says she's battling the diagnosis and is determined to beat it
When she was told the news, she was understandably shattered. "The initial experience was a shock, a shock to my womanhood," she admitted. "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."
She was told she would need "aggressive" chemotherapy before a hysterectomy. "There's no running from it because it's my life. And eventually you just surrender because it's so much bigger than anything you've ever faced. I found this courage and I just hunkered down and said, 'I'm going to face this.' "
Marlyne is a much-loved member of the One Chicago family
Marlyne would lose her hair to the treatment, but she also refused to let this beat her. "I didn't want to give the power to chemo," the actress said. "My hair has always been an essence of beauty. 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."
Her pastor husband has been a huge support for her and she thanked him for everything he's doing for her: "I'm married to the most incredible man. I get pins and needles in my limbs from the chemo and he'll drop everything to give me food and hand massages. He's dropped everything just to give me love."
Marlyne has been able to continue working throughout her treatment and says she's just "taking one day at a time".
More than anything, she's fighting for the sake of her family. "I find new strength to carry on every day because of [my children]," she said. "I want to see them get married one day. And I will."
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