Marisa Abela feared her career was over after she had thyroid cancer surgery.
The 27-year-old actress was diagnosed with the disease in November 2020, shortly after wrapping the first series of 'Industry', and she admitted she was worried the long scar she was left with on her neck would put casting directors off hiring her.
She told The Times magazine: “When I first went to the bathroom after surgery and I saw myself in the mirror, I thought, ‘That’s it, my career is over,’ because [my neck] was stapled, bloody. It wasn’t pretty at all and the scar is big.
"[I couldn't] imagine ever playing a character where her description isn’t, ‘And she has this big scar on her neck.’ ”
As well as surgery, Marisa also had to undergo a radioactive iodine treatment, which meant isolating in a lead-lined room for 24 hours before avoiding close contact with other people for two weeks.
She recalled: “It is mental. A sort of nuclear physicist in an astronaut suit gives you this box and you unscrew the box and tip it up and this pulsating neon tablet goes into you — like something from the opening of 'The Simpsons'.
"And then this man, standing the other side of the room, points a sort of gun thing at you to see how nuclear you are and it goes like, ‘Bbbbrrrrrrr’ and he’s like, ‘Yup, good to go,’ and he runs out of the room.
"And you’re just left there thinking, ‘This is in my body. How has someone just given this to me?’ And you’re radioactive.
"[Back home] you have to drink loads of fluids because you wee it out, but every time you go for a wee you have to bleach the toilet and flush it five times."
The 'Industry' actress' battle with the disease had an impact on her relationship with her body.
She said: “But [after] being diagnosed with cancer — even if it’s something like thyroid cancer, which isn’t necessarily life-threatening — there’s a distrust within your body that I really wouldn’t wish on anyone.
“This thing existed inside me for years without me knowing it was there — and that has changed my relationship with my body....
“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t affect me, but fundamentally my priority is trying to maintain a healthy body.
"When you’re on cancer wards, you’re seeing things that are so bleak and so sad and it really does just put everything into perspective.”
