Former Love Is Blind star Shaina Hurley was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with ‘miracle’ baby
Former Love Is Blind Shaina Hurley, diagnosed with Stage 2 cervical cancer during pregnancy, opts against chemotherapy.
Shaina Hurley, former star of Love Is Blind, recently said she was diagnosed with cancer just three months into her pregnancy. The 34-year-old reality TV star told People on September 4 that she was diagnosed with Stage 2 cervical cancer while she was pregnant with her “miracle” baby.
“I had no symptoms. But later, the doctor called me and said the pap smear results had come back as abnormal and they needed to get me in for a colposcopy,” Hurley said. A month after undergoing the procedure, her doctor delivered the difficult news—the results “were not looking good,” and Hurley was diagnosed with Stage 2 cervical cancer.
At the time, Hurley and her husband, Christos Lardakis, whom she married in July 2022, were excitedly preparing for the arrival of their first child. However, doctors recommended that Hurley undergo a cold-knife conization, a surgical procedure to remove cancerous tissue from the cervix, and it could be a huge risk to her pregnancy.
Shaina Hurley denied chemotherapy as there was…
“The problem is, I was pregnant,” Hurley explained. “[The] cervix is what holds pregnancy. I was at just around three months and so I would most likely lose the baby. At that point, I just couldn’t risk it.”
But, “It hadn’t spread to the lymph nodes but they were still wanting to do chemotherapy,” she recalled. Despite the doctor’s recommendation, Hurley decided against chemotherapy, noting, “I still had no symptoms, so I did deny chemotherapy. It was hard for the doctors because I was their patient first. And I was a tough patient.”
Hurley’s doctors later advised that she deliver her baby at 32 weeks to monitor the cancer’s progression, but Hurley felt that was too early. She pushed the delivery to 37-and-a-half weeks and gave birth to a healthy son, Yiorgos David, in February.
Two weeks after delivering her son, Hurley suffered a mini-stroke. Fortunately, she made a full recovery with no lasting side effects. She also completed the recommended cold-knife conization to remove the remaining cancerous cells.
However, the initial procedure was unsuccessful and “it didn't work”, and she underwent the surgery a second time, which finally proved successful. “As of June, I’m finally cancer-free,” she shared. “We have to wait a year officially from the last surgery, just to make sure my body is okay but we do want more babies.”
“For now, I’m focusing on being a mom and taking it day by day,” Hurley concluded.