'I’m losing my memory': 'Bachelorette' star shares update on breast cancer battle
Katie Thurston says breast cancer is affecting her memory.
Nearly four months after the "Bachelorette" alum announced she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, which has since progressed to stage four, Thurston shared she has been dealing with challenging side effects as she continues to receive treatment for the disease.
“I’m losing my memory,” Thurston, 34, said in a June 1 video posted to Instagram. “Going through customs and them being like, ‘Where are you coming from?’ And I looked at him and I was like, ‘I don’t remember. I don’t remember.’”
Thurston, who married comedian Jeff Arcuri earlier this year, said in another instance she got into “little disagreement” with her husband without being able to fully remember the basis of her arguments.
“I was like, ‘This has happened before,’” Katie recalled telling Jeff. “He was like, ‘When?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know but I know it has!’”
“We’re able to laugh about it now,” she continued. “Cancer is (expletive). Sometimes I’m like, ‘Stop feeling bad for yourself.’ Other times I’m like, ‘You’re allowed to feel bad for yourself. Cancer (expletive) sucks.’”
It's not only her memory that has been affected. Thurston said her hair has also been “coming out in an unnatural amount of clumps.”
'Fingers crossed'
Despite the challenges, Thurston says she is staying "optimistic." The reality TV star had decided to move forward with histotripsy, a non-invasive treatment for liver tumors, at New York University.
“I just finished my second month of treatment and if you’re asking how long treatment is, technically forever,” Katie said. “I am optimistic about medical advancements in the future. Fingers crossed as a stage 4 girly.”
She added: “It’s National Cancer Survivors Day. Every day that I’m alive, I’m a survivor. So go me, I guess.”
The Season 17 star, who first appeared on Season 25 of "The Bachelor," also revealed she opted for medically induced menopause last month, but the medication meant to suppress her hormones didn’t work. While the plan now is to switch to another medication, but if that doesn't work out, she might have to “get my ovaries taken out.”
“Not ideal,” she admitted. “But the vacation was nice. Now I’m back at it again in New York City trying to live my best life as a (expletive) cancer patient.”
'Discovered it myself'
Thurston first revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2025, saying she grew concerned when she discovered a small lump in her breast during the summer of 2024. News of Katie's diagnosis came five months after she got engaged to Arcuri, a comedian she met through Instagram in the spring of 2024.
"I discovered it myself," "The Bachelorette" alum had said on Instagram. "Thought maybe it was my period. Maybe it was muscle soreness from working out."
Thurston, who previously had a benign cyst removed from the same breast when she was 20, assumed the new lump was something similar. However, when it didn't go away, she decided to get it checked out thinking "it was going to be nothing."
"I was wrong," Thurston said, adding her worst fears were confirmed after a series of tests including a mammogram and biopsy.
'Worst feeling' ever
Later, during an appearance on "Good Morning America," Thurston said the moment she got the news she had breast cancer was "the worst feeling I’ve ever felt."
"You’re so devastated. It’s so shocking. As a 34-year-old woman, you're not prepared," Thurston, whose family doesn't have a history of breast cancer, said on the show.
In March 2025, less than a week after she and Arcuri tied the knot, Thurston shared her cancer had metastasized and a recent PET scan detected "spots on my liver that were a little suspicious." After undergoing another biopsy, it was confirmed the cancer had spread to her liver.
"It is fairly small; however, that does put me at stage IV," she said. "I know stage IV can sound very scary and it can be; however, given that I am triple positive and the spots on my liver are fairly small and detected early, I feel very optimistic on my outcome. I'm very confident in my team at Columbia."
Thurston relocated from Los Angeles to New York City for her treatment and transferred her care to a new medical team.
Supporting others
Thurston aims to document her journey to recovery in the hope of helping others.
"One thing I did early on was search other stories like mine," Thurston had said in her initial announcement. "Other young women with breast cancer. Invasive ductal carcinoma. Mastectomy. Pregnancy after breast cancer. All of their stories helped. So I intend to be the same for others. This is day one of sharing and is going to be a long one. This first step of acceptance of my reality was the hardest. But I am ready to fight this."
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for Paste BN. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.