The Bachelorette alum Joe Amabile shared a health update after undergoing brain surgery following his brain tumour diagnosis.
The reality star posted a video to Instagram on Wednesday, saying that it had been a full week since his surgery and he wanted to share an update on his diagnosis.
“I was diagnosed with a very low grade astrosytoma. So I will be undergoing treatment which included a daily pill that will put any remaining tumor cells to sleep, as well as regular MRIs. Staying positive baby,” he wrote in the caption.
An astrocytoma is a tumour that starts in the astrocyte cells, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.
The Mayo Clinic states that astrocytoma symptoms depend on where the tumour grows and that a brain astrocytoma can cause headaches, seizures, nausea or changes in mood or behaviour.
In his video, Amabile said recovery since his surgery has been “really great for the most part.”
“When it comes to malignant brain tumours they don’t know what’s left over. I will be going on treatment which is just a pill every day for the rest of my life to put the bad cells to sleep and hopefully they stay asleep,” he added.
Amabile’s wife Serena Pitt also shared an update with a carousel of photos from her husband’s health journey earlier this week.
“A few peaceful moments from the hospital,” Pitt captioned the post. “Incredibly grateful to the team at NYU Langone Health for their endless patience, care, compassion, and kindness these past few days. Joe is home recovering, and we’re so grateful to have been in such good hands.”
Amabile first shared his diagnosis on July 13, revealing that doctors found “what looks to be an early stage brain tumour” after undergoing a full-body MRI scan.
In a video posted to Instagram, the 40-year-old reality star said, “So a little medical update … they ended up finding a lesion in my brain so then I had to go get a brain MRI. There was a blueberry-size lesion in my brain that looks to be a glioma which is a tumour.”
A glioma is a growth of cells that starts in the brain or spinal cord. As a glioma grows, it forms a mass of cells called a tumour, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In the caption for his video, Amabile wrote, “This past month has been a lot of ups and downs to say the least. After multiple scans and MRIs I have what looks to be an early stage brain tumor. In two weeks I’ll be undergoing a craniotomy to have it removed — yeah brain surgery.”
Amabile, known as “Grocery Store Joe” from The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise, said he is doing his best to stay positive during this time and is lucky “to have a lot of support from family and friends.”
During an episode of the Not Married to This podcast, hosted by Amabile and Pitt, he said that his doctor encouraged him to get the lesion checked because it was “urgent.”
