MTV’s ‘The Challenge’ Star Diem Brown Battling Cancer Again; Collapses on Set and airlifted to Surgery
This is one of those stories that doesn’t find you until you look for it. That is because Diem is a reality TV star on a show that is one of our staff favorites but at times we feel we are the only people watching it. This show is MTV’s ‘The Challenge’.
You are either a fan or you’re not. If you are not a fan, I’m not going to try and convince you to be one, I would just say watch the first three episodes of any season and you will either love it or hate it.
For those who are fans, we all know Diem Brown well. We got sucked into her dramatic love life with CT and with that we were all aware of her two previous bouts with Cancer. Recently the Cancer has come back for a third time. During the filming of the next season of “The Challenge” in Panama, Diem collapsed and was airlifted to New York where she underwent surgery to remove a tumor that was completely blocking her colon. [more…]
Due to complications from the first surgery, Diem had to have a 2nd surgery and is currently recovering in the ICU. The first surgery took place on August 17th and the 2nd just three days later on the 20th. As soon as she is strong enough she will have to begin chemotherapy treatments for the third time in her short life.
LASTING DRAMATIC EFFECTS
During the first surgery, it was also discovered that Brown had cancer in her stomach lining which had to be removed, resulting in the need for a colostomy bag. What might be the most dramatic side effect was the need to remove her uterus, which dashed her long time dreams of having a child (via childbirth).
Diem describes her initial reaction to waking and being told that her uterus had to be removed,
When I came to, they told me that they couldn’t save my uterus. That was a blow. We’d fought so hard to keep it. Might sound silly to most, but it’s what made me still feel like a woman and gave me hope for a future. I felt empty, gutted.”
THE BRIGHTSIDE?
Of course there is a bright side. She is still alive. She was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003 where she had to have an ovary and part of her fallopian tube removed. The ovarian cancer returned in 2012 and at the time Diem was able to freeze her eggs, so a surrogate is still a possibility for her.
Despite it all, we love Diem because she has a lot of heart and a lot of fight in her. During a recent interview she assured us that she is still a fighter. Diem said,
I might not have the ability to ever carry a child and I have this damn bag for the time being – but I’m alive,
That also leads me to believe the colostomy bag is temporary.
MEDGIFT.COM
I would be remiss if I did not talk about MedGift.com. It’s a website where you can donate to help people who need money for medical expenses. This site was created by Diem and now she is using it to raise money for her own bills that will no doubt become outrageous as Chemo starts up.
Here is a link to her donation page. There you can find posts of her progress along with pictures and places where you can leave notes of support.
Our prayers go out to Diem for a quick recovery and we wouldn’t be surprised if we did not see her back on another season of ‘The Challenge’ soon.
I was going to post a video that Diem filmed for People.com regarding cancer and chemo – but it’s ‘pre-Labor Day weekend’ Friday and I figured this video would be a lot better. Enjoy!
