Katie Thurston shares one-year update on cancer battle

WASHINGTON: Reality TV personality Katie Thurston has shared a hopeful update one year after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, revealing that her latest scans show her condition remains stable, according to E! News.

In a video posted on Instagram, the former ‘Bachelorette’ star said her recent MRI and PET scan results indicated that her tumour is currently “stable.”

“While that is a good thing, it is the first time in a year that my tumor isn’t shrinking, that it just is stagnant,” the 35-year-old said, admitting the news initially caused her to spiral. “I thought maybe the medicine’s not working anymore.”

However, Thurston explained that her oncologist reassured her that brief breaks in medication can slow tumour shrinkage and that stability at this stage is still considered positive.

Katie Thurston is feeling optimistic. She shares the latest results of her scans one year into her breast cancer journey: https://t.co/ww3Am9Zk4K pic.twitter.com/uftxGiDKmV

— E! News (@enews) February 19, 2026

“When you first start treatment, your body is in shock,” she said. “Suddenly I’m in menopause, suddenly I’m on really strong medication. So, it is common for the tumor to shrink significantly up front and then to kind of slow down that momentum as treatment continues,” according to E! News.

She added that over the past year, her tumour has shrunk by 50 per cent and that her PET scan showed no new spread of the disease.

Despite continuing with her current treatment plan, Thurston revealed she is preparing for a major next step in her journey.

“This Friday I’m going to be meeting with my surgeon to pursue a double mastectomy,” she shared, describing it as a “very big next step” in her cancer treatment, according to E! News.

Thurston, who married Jeff Arcuri in 2025 amid her health battle, has been candid about her journey on social media.

In January, she also disclosed that her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Thurston encouraged her mother to seek further testing despite receiving a normal mammogram result, leading to an ultrasound, MRI and biopsies that confirmed the diagnosis.

“Our own advocacy allowed us to catch this early,” she wrote at the time, adding that she travelled to Seattle to support her mother at her first appointment, according to E! News. (ANI)