Love Island’s Demi Jones devastated as doctors tell her she’s got thyroid cancer after operation to remove lump
LOVE Island's Demi Jones has revealed the devastating news that she has thyroid cancer.
The reality star, 21, opened up about a lump in her neck last month and has updated fans every step of the way.
After an appointment with the doctors at the beginning of April Demi broke down in tears when they told her it could be something serious.
Three weeks later she had the "potentially cancerous" lump removed from her neck and has been waiting on her results.
And now doctors have confirmed what she was dreading to hear.
The brave beauty told her 1.1m followers: "Hi guys, I got my results today and unfortunately I have thyroid cancer.
"The tumour has been removed but I'm now due to have more surgery to remove the rest of my thyroid."
"I'm staying very positive and I'm a strong girl so I'll be fine.
"Thank you for your love and support always. I'll bounce back stronger."
The Portsmouth-born star went on to plead with fans to make sure that they're doing all they can to catch the disease during the early stages.
Symptoms of thyroid cancer
If you notice a painless lump or swollen glands in your neck
Difficulty swallowing food and drink
A sore throat that doesn't go away after a number of weeks
She added: "Check your lumps."
Thyroid cancer develops in your thyroid gland, which is located in your neck, and is usually noticed when a lump forms there.
The cells within the thyroid grow too quickly and create a lump.
There are four types which include: papillary carcinoma, follicular carcinoma, medullary thyroid carcinoma, anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.
A doctor will take some blood tests and if they think that it could be cancer they'll refer you to specialist.
There are many ways to treat the disease including surgery to remove the thyroid, radioactive iodine treatment, external radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Demi first noticed the lump back in 2019, but it was only after her stint on the ITV dating show that she decided to get it checked.
After ignoring it, Demi told her mum and she urged her to go and get it checked.
However, she claimed she really had to push for them to investigate further into the lump because her dad had a misdiagnosed lump.
Demi shot to fame on the first ever winter series of Love Island back in January 2020.
She entered as a bombshell on day 16 and originally only had eyes for sports science graduate Nas Masood.
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Things didn't work out between the pair and Demi then coupled up with Justin Bieber lookalike Luke Mabbott.
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The lovebirds managed to place third in the competition and gave their relationship a good go when they returned to the UK.
However, lockdown forced them apart as they struggled with a long distance relationship.