Dilly Carter, star of Sort Your Life Out, has addressed why she was absent from Thursday’s show as she reflects on her cancer experience.
Stacey Solomon‘s famous programme, which sees untidy family homes become fresh, tidy, and better than before, features the TV favourite on a regular basis.
Stacey was joined by fellow cleaning influencer Mrs Hinch on Thursday’s programme, with Stacey saying over a voiceover that ‘Dilly can’t be with us this week so I’ve asked my mate Sophie Hinch to muck in.’
Dilly has now confessed that she was absent at the time because she had just undergone cancer surgery and was in excruciating agony.
She took to Instagram on Thursday where she said she ‘can’t wait’ to watch the episode but admitted it was ‘bitter sweet for me.’
‘The episode ‘reminds me of how poorly I was and how much pain I was in when this episode was filmed.
‘I had just come out of hospital following major surgery to remove the cancer and my entire reproductive system. I obviously could not film so was so grateful someone could step in. But I was also so sad to miss it!’
She went on: ‘I can’t believe how far I’ve come since December. It already seems like a life time ago already.’
Dilly was diagnosed with uterine cancer last year and is doing well owing to medication and surgery.
She was given the all-clear earlier this summer after undergoing radiotherapy to prevent the cancer from returning. She will need frequent check-ups but has been assured that the malignancy is slow-growing.
She shared her tale on social media in April, stating that she had received treatment for huge, painful fibroids in her stomach and uterus, which required extensive surgery.
The £12,000 private procedure was a myomectomy to remove the fibroids.
Two weeks later, she heard that the fibroids had been examined for malignancy, and that she had stage one womb cancer.
However, following further research, it was discovered that she had a fibroid in her uterus, with ‘no place for a baby.’
At this moment in the film, she becomes upset and says, ‘That private operation I whined about paying for had just found I had cancer and perhaps saved my life.’
She and her husband Charley had been trying for a child, but a severe hysterectomy was necessary to prevent the cancer from spreading, forcing Dilly into an abrupt medically-induced menopause.
Dilly had a total hysterectomy in December, around the time Thursday’s Sort Your Life Out episode was taped, and subsequently learned that the cancer had progressed from stage one to stage three and had spread, necessitating the removal of lymph nodes as well as her womb.
The actress awakened in’severe agony’ and was unable to walk for 12 weeks, but she is now enjoying ‘how far I’ve come’ in the previous ten months.
Mrs Hinch, who stood in for Dilly on the episode she was unable to tape due to illness, called her a ‘wonderful lady… so brave and such an inspiration’ on her video at the time.
‘Your health is all you have, one body, one chance,’ Dilly said in an October post from her hospital bed. So look after it.
‘Get checked out, find out what is normal and what isn’t. Don’t just ignore things that don’t feel right like I have most my life.’
Sort Your Life Out returns on Thursday at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Macmillan cancer support
If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan can offer support and information.
You can contact their helpline on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week from 8am to 8pm), use their webchat service, or visit their site for more information.
