“Love Is Blind” alum Shaina Hurley has disclosed that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer while pregnant with her son, Yiorgos David, last year.
In her first sit-down interview since the diagnosis, Hurley revealed to People on Wednesday that she discovered the cancer after a routine pap smear during her second month of pregnancy.
“I didn’t have any symptoms,” the 36-year-old shared. “But the doctor later called me with the news that my pap smear results were abnormal and that a colposcopy was needed.”
A month after the initial test, Hurley underwent the procedure, where she was immediately informed that the results were “not looking good.” Within a day, she was diagnosed with Stage 2 cervical cancer.
“I felt the fear start to creep in, but I knew I had to stay strong and not let it take over my mind,” she recounted. “I couldn’t afford to go down that dark path. I had to go into survival mode and place my trust in God, hoping for the best.”
During her interview, Hurley also revealed that doctors recommended a cold-knife biopsy to assess the extent of the cancer and remove as much as possible. However, because she was around three months pregnant, the procedure posed a significant risk of losing her baby.
“At that point, I couldn’t take that risk,” she explained.
Doctors then suggested starting chemotherapy around 22 weeks into her pregnancy, but Hurley opted against it as the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes and she had no symptoms. They also advised inducing labor at 32 weeks, but Hurley decided to delay it to 37-and-a-half weeks to ensure the best possible outcome for her baby. She delivered a healthy baby boy.
Following the birth of her son on February 1, 2024, Hurley experienced a mini-seizure while feeding him but recovered swiftly with no lasting effects. A month later, she underwent the cold-knife biopsy, though it did not completely remove the cancer.
In June, after undergoing the procedure a second time, Hurley was finally declared cancer-free.
Now focusing on her role as a mother, Hurley and her husband, Christos Lardakis, are hopeful about expanding their family in the future. “For now, I’m concentrating on being a mom and taking things one day at a time,” she said.
Hurley and Lardakis, who got engaged in March 2022 and married in a courthouse ceremony in July of the same year, celebrated their union with a larger ceremony in Greece.
