MasterChef finalist issues urgent plea after noticing something was VERY wrong while competing on the show
Former MasterChef Australia finalist Rhiannon Anderson has urged Aussies to pay attention to their health after having a ‘melon-sized’ tumour removed from her stomach.
The mother-of-five revealed she’d had the massive non-cancerous fibroid taken out during a gruelling operation six months ago after noticing something was wrong while in season 15 of Ten hit reality cook-off in 2023.
The 47-year-old, who is from Townsville in Queensland’s Far North, revealed she also undergone a hysterectomy.
In a heartfelt update on her health battle on Instagram on Tuesday, Ms Anderson shared a graphic image of the large tumour doctors removed from her body.
Another photo showed Ms Anderson lying in a hospital bed as she smiled at the camera.
‘This year has been the hardest in my life in relation to my health,’ she wrote.
‘I spend so much time encouraging women to look for signs in their bodies that aren’t right, however chose to ignore my own issues due to being ‘too busy’!?
Ms Anderson, (pictured) 47, took to Instagram on Tuesday to upload an honest post about how she had neglected her own health and urged others not to do the same
‘To say I’m disappointed in myself is an understatement.’
The talented cook noticing she was struggling to fit into her jeans while filming on MasterChef.
‘When I laid down I could feel something in my stomach and I was kind of like “Oh, that’s weird”. It was sort of as if I was pregnant, but there wasn’t a baby,’ Ms Anderson told the Townsville Bulletin.
‘When I was on MasterChef I would get ready in the mornings and put my jeans on and because it went right across [the tumour], it would make me actually quite sick.’
After her finishing runner0up behind winner Brent Draper, Ms Anderson said she went for an ultrasound in August 2023.
The ultrasound detected a large fibroid, but Ms Anderson said she was so overwhelmed with work she failed to notice the size of tumour as it continued to grow.
Ms Anderson, who is an ovarian cancer ambassador, said she told prominent obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Sally Aubrey some time later that she had a fibroid.
Ms Anderson (pictured) she became so busy that she forgot to notice the size of tumour as it continued to grow after she had an ultrasound that detected the fibroid
The conversation led her to set aside six weeks in her calendar to book the surgery.
‘She (Dr Aubrey) said to me we all knew it was going to be big, once [the surgeons] went in they were like “Oh my god this is far bigger than we imagined,” Ms Anderson said.
On a positive note, she said her health has improved slowly since the surgery last year.
‘I still have a lot of swelling and soreness but [I] am able to carry on with most of my everyday activities,’ she wrote in the social media post.
Dozens of commenters praised Ms Anderson for revealing the details of her terrifying health battle.
‘Thank you for honesty, sharing, courage, empathy for others and a teaching moment for us to learn from you,’ one person wrote.
‘Thank you for sharing, if this encourages just one person to get checked, it was well worth it,’ another wrote.
‘You are a force! Thank you for sharing. I’m going to go get checked!’ a third added.
Others expressed their relief that Ms Anderson had recovered from her surgery.
The talented cook (pictured) noticed something was wrong while she was competing during season 15 of the hit Channel 10 reality TV program in 2023
‘Oooft that is a melon of a growth. Glad that you’re … on the mend!,’ one person wrote.
‘What a huge operation and recovery that would have been. Glad to hear that you’re ok,’ another person said.
Some were left baffled by the size of the overgrown fibroid.
‘I can’t believe that was inside you! I can only imagine the pressure and pain that would have caused,’ one person wrote.
