Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Breast Cancer Research Foundation; Instagram/Cody Menk
What To Know
- The former Bachelorette star—who revealed her breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year—called out former contestant Cody Menk after he left a snarky remark on wedding photos of her and husband Jeff Arcuri.
- She also opened up about the road to her diagnosis, admitting it took her some time to see a doctor after first discovering a lump in her breast.
- Through it all, Katie continues to meet challenges with honesty, humor, and resilience—qualities that have turned her into not just a former Bachelorette fan favorite, but a true fighter.
Katie Thurston just proved she’s still the queen of quick comebacks.
The former Bachelorette star—who revealed her breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year—called out former contestant Cody Menk after he left a snarky remark on wedding photos of her and husband Jeff Arcuri.
Under an April Instagram post, Cody commented, “Good couple! Both solid 5s,” according to Parade. The comment has since been deleted.
Katie, who married Jeff in an intimate backyard ceremony this March, didn’t let it slide. On Aug. 6, she reshared a screenshot of Cody’s comment to her Instagram Stories with the caption: “Remember this guy from my season? Me either. But he’s still here lurking on my page. Thanks for being a fan.”
For context, Cody appeared on Katie’s 2021 season of The Bachelorette but was sent home in just the second week.
Bachelor Nation fans were quick to jump into the comments of Katie’s original post, with one joking, “Where’s Cody? I just wanna talk…” Katie replied with a laughing emoji, saying, “Blocked so I’ll never know now.”
Savage, stylish, and straight to the point—Katie definitely gets the final rose for this one.
And Cody’s jab isn’t the only thing Katie Thurston has handled with grace. Just last month, the 34-year-old shared uplifting news about her cancer journey, revealing that her stage four metastatic breast cancer is responding positively to treatment.
“Today the scans confirmed the tumors are SHRINKING!!” she wrote in a joyful July 7 Instagram update. “This is amazing news and I am so relieved!”
While Katie acknowledged she will likely be on a treatment plan for life, she’s keeping her spirits high. She also opened up about the road to her diagnosis, admitting it took her some time to see a doctor after first discovering a lump in her breast.
Her transparency—and her ability to mix strength with humor—has made her a source of inspiration for fans navigating their own battles.
Katie has been candid about her health from the start. “I was diagnosed almost five months ago with #breastcancer,” she shared. “But if I’m being honest, I found the lump maybe 12 months ago. I was 33 years old with no family history. Why would I ever suspect #cancer — but it was.”
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Since receiving the diagnosis, the reality star has fast-tracked major life decisions—moving up her wedding to Jeff and starting the IVF process before beginning chemotherapy.
The treatments, though, haven’t been easy. Katie has openly discussed the tough side effects, including one particularly scary moment when she experienced memory loss.
“I’m losing my memory,” she revealed in a June Instagram post. “Going through customs and them being like, ‘Where are you coming from?’ And I looked at him and I was like, ‘I don’t remember. I don’t remember.’”
Through it all, Katie continues to meet challenges with honesty, humor, and resilience—qualities that have turned her into not just a former Bachelorette fan favorite, but a true fighter
Katie Thurston on the Moment She Knew Something Was Wrong
Katie Thurston is opening up about the moment she decided to get checked for breast cancer.
The former Bachelorette revealed she first noticed a small lump in her breast during the summer of 2024.
“I discovered it myself,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories in February 2025. “Thought maybe it was my period. Maybe it was muscle soreness from working out.”
Having had a benign cyst removed from the same breast at age 20, Katie initially assumed this was more of the same. But when the lump didn’t disappear, she booked a doctor’s appointment.
“Went to the doc thinking it was going to be nothing,” she recalled. “I was wrong.”
That visit would ultimately lead to her stage four metastatic breast cancer diagnosis—a life-altering moment she’s been candid about sharing with fans ever since.
Katie Thurston on How She Learned of Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Katie Thurston is sharing the heartbreaking moment she learned she had breast cancer.
After finding a lump, her doctor referred her to a specialist for a breast ultrasound. That was followed by a mammogram and, ultimately, a biopsy.
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“Only then can they confirm if it’s breast cancer,” she explained in a March 18, 2025, Instagram video. And when the news finally came, she said it was “the worst feeling I’ve ever felt.”
Speaking on Good Morning America the next day, the 34-year-old reality star—who has no family history of the disease—recalled the shock. “You’re so devastated. It’s so shocking. As a 34-year-old woman, you’re not prepared.”
Katie went public with her stage 3 diagnosis on Feb. 15, 2025, telling fans she had been through “despair, anger, sadness, denial… and then strength, purposeful, ready.”
She also vowed to share her journey in the hope of inspiring others. “One thing I did early on was search other stories like mine… all of their stories helped. So I intend to be the same for others. This is day one of sharing, and it’s going to be a long one. This first step of acceptance of my reality was the hardest. But I am ready to fight this.”
Katie Thurston on Her Fertility Journey and Embryo Freezing
Katie Thurston’s breast cancer diagnosis came just five months after getting engaged to comedian Jeff Arcuri, whom she met on Instagram in the spring of 2024.
“We thought we’d be planning a wedding,” Katie said on Good Morning America. “We thought we’d be trying for a baby. Instead, we know that this year is really dedicated to treatment and getting better.”
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Knowing chemotherapy could impact her fertility, Katie and Jeff decided to freeze embryos.
“We retrieved 17 eggs and attempted to fertilize them,” she shared on Instagram Stories March 31, 2025. “Of the 17, only six were successfully fertilized. But then they have to make it to the blastocyst stage. Only three made it. And after genetic testing, we have two embryos we were able to freeze—one Grade B and one Grade C. This is the reality of IVF.”
Katie has also been open about future family planning, including the possibility of using a surrogate.
“Jeff and I discussed the importance of my health and that when the time comes, surrogacy will likely be the best option for us,” she wrote. “A friendly reminder to stop judging celebrities who pursue surrogacy because you don’t know what they have going on in their personal lives.”
For now, Katie says she and Jeff are also “OK being a childless couple.”
Katie Thurston and Jeff Arcuri’s Heartfelt Decision to Marry Amid Her Cancer Battle
Katie Thurston and Jeff Arcuri didn’t let cancer put their love story on hold. On March 22, 2025, the couple tied the knot in New York—just months after Katie moved cross-country following a long-distance romance.
“It was so, so sweet,” Katie told Us Weekly of their intimate backyard ceremony, which included their parents, an officiant, and the couple’s newly adopted dog, Charlie. “Obviously, we were wanting to plan a wedding and there’s a lot of emotions that come in with chemo and the impact and the health. We don’t know what the next year looks like. And one night he said, ‘I want to show you that I still love you and that I’m here to stay.’ And he said, ‘I’ll get married to you tomorrow.’”
While they hope to host a larger celebration in the future, Katie says Jeff’s spontaneous proposal to wed was his way of “proving that he’s here to stay”—in sickness and in health.
For Jeff, the decision also came from a deeply practical place.
“I also just want to be able to be in the hospital with her and just be like, ‘My wife’s in there,’” he told the outlet. “There’s more power to that. I don’t want to be not with you for any of this.”
Katie Thurston Shares Update as Her Cancer Reaches Stage 4
Just days after marrying Jeff Arcuri, Katie Thurston revealed a sobering update about her health.
In a March 28, 2025 Instagram video, the former Bachelorette shared that a recent PET scan had detected “some spots” on her liver, meaning her breast cancer had progressed to stage 4.
“I know stage 4 can sound very scary—and it can be,” she said candidly. “But given that I am triple-positive and the spots on my liver are fairly small and detected early, I feel very optimistic about my outcome.”
Katie’s honesty and strength inspire fans as she approaches the next stage of her treatment with hope.
Katie Thurston on Her Breast Cancer Treatment Plan
After receiving her stage 4 diagnosis, Katie gave an update on her treatment plan.
“The cancer that is within the liver is from the breast cancer,” she shared. “So in basic terms, my breast cancer is the root and will be the focus. Six rounds of chemotherapy to start.”
But right before Katie was scheduled to begin this treatment, she received another update.
“Today I was supposed to start chemo,” she wrote on Instagram April 4, 2025. “I had my cold cap, my cold socks, snacks, blankets, medications, entertainment ready. My aunt Lindsey flew in to be with me this weekend for recovery. However, yesterday I got the call that my pathology results on my liver, breast, and lymph nodes all came back as HER2 Negative even though my original samples as Kaiser were HER2+. I was minutes away from taking my steroid for chemo prep. Instead I am headed to my doctor to discuss how this happened, what testing is needed, and what this means for my new treatment plan.”
As a result, Katie noted it “sounds like chemo is off the table now.”
“I should be excited about that,” she added. “But in two months, I’ve continued to get an updated diagnosis three times. I think thoroughness and getting a second medical opinion has been instrumental in my early cancer stage journey.”
Katie Thurston’s Advice and Message for Others
As she continues her fight against cancer, Katie Thurston says she’s taking life one day at a time.
“Sometimes I think, ‘WTF is my life?’” she admitted on her Boobie Broadcast channel March 31, 2025. “But whether I like it or not, this is my life and I have to make the best of it. They say live like you’re dying, but now that I am, it’s easier said than done. And don’t get me wrong, every day, we are all closer to death—not in a morbid way but in the undeniable circle of life. So cancer or not, I am blessed with today. So while I have sad moments or days, I want to do my best to cherish my time, cancer or not.”
Katie is also using her platform to encourage others to take their health seriously.
“Don’t wait. Be proactive. Get checked out,” she told Good Morning America. “You could be doing yourself a favor in the future.”
Katie Thurston on Losing Her Memory Amid Breast Cancer Treatment
Nearly two months into treatment, Katie Thurston revealed another unexpected side effect of her cancer battle: memory loss.
“I’m losing my memory,” she admitted in a June 1, 2025 Instagram post. “Going through customs and them being like, ‘Where are you coming from?’ And I looked at him and I was like, ‘I don’t remember. I don’t remember.’”
The former Bachelorette also recalled getting into what she described as a “little disagreement” with her husband Jeff Arcuri—but struggling to recall the details afterward.
“I was like, ‘This has happened before,’” she shared. “He was like, ‘When?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know but I know it has!’”
While the couple has learned to find humor in the situation, Katie didn’t shy away from acknowledging the emotional toll.
“We’re able to laugh about it now,” she wrote. “Cancer is s–t. Sometimes I’m like, ‘Stop feeling bad for yourself.’ Other times I’m like, ‘You’re allowed to feel bad for yourself. Cancer f–king sucks.’”
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