Chicago Med actress Marlyne Barrett has been diagnosed with cancer.
Her beloved character battled the disease on TV, but now the 44-year-old actress has revealed a devastating diagnosis of her own.
Doctors found a tumour 'the size of an American football' on the Maggie Lockwood actor's uterus and ovary after she underwent a hernia operation.
Marlyne described the discovery as "a shock to my womanhood" and admits not believing doctors when she was told the heartbreaking news.
"I didn’t believe them, but when they showed me the CT scan," she said. "I went, 'Oh my word'.
"The first questions were, 'Am I going to live?', I just fell into my husband's arms. It still takes my breath away when I think about it," she told People.
Marlyne, who has also appeared in Law & Order, Gossip Girl Damages, Kings and American Crime, is still continuing to work, but says she has made small changes to her schedule.
Despite doctors warning that she would need an "aggressive" form of chemotherapy before having a hysterectomy, she still continues to power through treatments.
She also decided to shave her head in front of her twins Joshuah-Jireh and Ahnne-N’Urya who she shares with husband Gavin Barrett.
"I didn’t want to give the power to chemo," she added. "My hair has always been an essence of beauty. But I took my own razor and I shaved my head.
"I did it in front of my babies so they’d see it was still Mommy. I wept, I wept, I wept. But it was a beautiful experience to do it in front of them."
She joined the Chicago Med crew as Maggie in 2015, quickly becoming a fan-favourite – all while appearing in other shows such as Chicago Fire and Chicago PD.
"Work brings me a lot of joy right now," she added. "It brings me a lot of reprieve to think about something other than, 'When is my next chemo shift?' and 'How am I going to hug my children?'
Currently gearing up for her third round of chemotherapy, Marlyne says she is taking things "one day at a time".
She said: "It’s okay not to have it all together. You can’t tangibly hold onto fear.
"But I’m holding onto faith. I find new strength to carry on every day because of [my children]. I want to see them get married one day. And I will."
