Shaina Hurley, known for her role on "Love Is Blind", shares the deeply personal story of how she faced a life-changing diagnosis while pregnant.
Hurley, who describes her pregnancy as a "miracle," was just a few months along when she received the devastating news: she had cervical cancer. Reflecting on her journey, Hurley says that trusting her instincts was crucial in navigating the challenges of a turbulent pregnancy, which ultimately led to the birth of her healthy son.
By June 2024, Hurley was cancer-free. "I am on the other side now," she tells, finally ready to share her story publicly.
Hurley welcomed her first child, a son named Yiorgos David, with her husband, Christos Lardakis, on February 1. However, the path to this joyous moment was fraught with fear and uncertainty, beginning with a routine eight-week pap smear.
“I had no symptoms,” Hurley explains. “But later, the doctor called me with abnormal results, and I had to go in for a colposcopy.”
About a month after that, Hurley underwent the procedure, and the doctor immediately sensed something was wrong. When the test results came back from Northwestern, they confirmed she had Stage 2 cervical cancer.
“I felt fear creeping in, but I knew I couldn’t let it consume me,” Hurley recalls. “I had to go into survival mode and tell God, ‘I trust you.’ I prayed for the best outcome.”
Doctors urged Hurley to undergo a cold-knife conization, a procedure that could determine how far the cancer had spread and remove as much as possible. However, the procedure involved removing a portion of tissue from her cervix — a significant risk since she was about three months pregnant. “The cervix is what holds the pregnancy, so I would most likely lose the baby,” Hurley says. “I couldn’t take that chance.”
At 22 weeks pregnant, doctors suggested laparoscopic surgery to check if the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Fortunately, it hadn’t. Still, they recommended chemotherapy. Hurley refused. “I had no symptoms, so I declined chemotherapy. It was hard for the doctors because, first and foremost, I was their patient. And I was a tough patient.”
Over the following weeks, Hurley became her own advocate, pushing back against the doctors' suggestion to deliver at 32 weeks. She decided to carry her pregnancy to 37 and a half weeks and delivered a healthy baby boy.
Although her delivery went smoothly, her family and friends were deeply concerned. “My husband and I faced some of our toughest moments in our marriage,” Hurley admits. “He wanted the baby, but he also said, ‘Shaina, I don’t want to lose my wife. I want you here to raise our son.’”
Despite the difficulties, Hurley’s faith and determination were unwavering. “We had a miscarriage before Yiorgos, and when I finally got a healthy pregnancy, nothing was going to stop me,” she says. “But it did cast a shadow over everything.”
Even after the birth, Hurley faced further complications. Two weeks later, she suffered a mini-stroke while feeding her son. “My hands went numb, and it shot down the left side of my body. My face drooped, and I wasn’t making sense,” she recalls. She recovered without significant side effects, but her journey was far from over.
Four weeks later, she underwent the cold-knife conization the doctors had insisted on, but it was unsuccessful. “The cancer was still there,” she says. Six weeks later, Hurley had another surgery, and finally, two weeks after that, she received the news she had been praying for: "As of June, I'm finally cancer-free."
Moving forward, Hurley will have regular check-ups every three months for the next few years. “We have to wait a year officially from the last surgery to make sure everything is okay,” she says, “but we do want more children.”
For now, Hurley is focused on being a mom and taking things day by day, including reconnecting with old friends like "Love Is Blind"’s Zanab Jaffrey, who recently visited her in Chicago. “I isolated myself to protect my mental health, but I opened up to Zanab, and she’s been checking in on me,” Hurley says.
She admits that she avoided speaking publicly about her cancer, choosing instead to draw strength from her faith. “My strength came from my relationship with the Lord,” she says. “We all suffer in this life, but it’s how we face that suffering that’s the true test. Without my relationship with God, I don’t think I would have had the strength.”
During her pregnancy and recovery, she even avoided saying the word “cancer” until it was out of her body. Now, she sees her experience as a testament to her resilience. She’s set to deliver a speech at a gala she’s co-chairing with her husband on November 2, where she’ll share her story publicly for the first time.
“I’ll be giving a speech about my journey, and we’ll be raising money for cancer research,” she says. “It’s a new chapter — a different life. But it’s made me stronger.”
The Quran - Chapter Al-Ma'arij: 01- 02
A challenger has demanded a punishment bound to come
for the disbelievers—to be averted by none—
