AceShowbiz - "The Bachelorette" star Katie Thurston recently opened up about her personal and medical challenges in an Instagram Q&A session. At 34, Katie revealed she's been diagnosed with cancer, which has progressed to stage four, spreading to her liver.

"I know stage four can sound very scary, and it can be," she admitted before emphasizing her optimism. Her hopeful attitude stems from being "triple positive," and the cancerous spots on her liver being "fairly small and detected early."

Beyond her health battles, Katie and her husband Jeff Arcuri have discussed family expansion plans. Given her condition, surrogacy appears to be their best option. She shared, "Jeff and I discussed the importance of my health and that, when the time comes, surrogacy will likely be the best option for us."

In addressing the stigma surrounding surrogacy, Katie urged her followers to be less judgmental, "[This is] a friendly reminder to stop judging celebrities who pursue surrogacy. You don't know what they have going on in their personal lives."

Katie and Jeff have taken proactive steps by freezing embryos before her cancer treatment begins. "I'm basically putting my ovaries into a temporary menopausal state (I like to say hibernation) to protect them from chemo," she explained.

Reflecting on her journey and the emotional rollercoaster that followed her initial diagnosis in February, Katie shared, "Despair. Anger. Sadness. Denial. And then strength. Purposeful. Ready. I cried a lot. I tried to even make a video instead of this post and couldn't."

Despite facing many uncertainties, Katie and Jeff remain united and hopeful. Married just earlier this month in an intimate backyard ceremony in New York City with only their parents present, the couple now braces for the challenges that lie ahead.

"There's a lot of emotions that come in with chemo and the impact and the health, and we don't know what the next year looks like," she shared with Us Weekly.

Through it all, Jeff has shown unwavering support. Katie noted, "He is proving that he's here to stay. He shows up every day and he does it in ways that just continue to surprise."

Katie Thurston's journey is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity, and she continues to inspire her followers to lead with empathy and hope.