Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi found comfort from other women’s stories TikTok after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi found comfort on TikTok after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.
The 38-year-old reality star recalled how she started “freaking out” and was convinced she was going to die when she was first told she had the disease at stage one, but hearing other people’s stories online gave her reassurance.
She told E! News: “When I got the diagnosis, I was like, ‘Oh my God. I’m dying. I can’t believe this is happening. I’m freaking out.
“I went to TikTok right away. There were so many videos of women saying, ‘I just got diagnosed,’ ‘I’m in remission,’ ‘I’m gonna be fine.’
“That made me feel so cozy and like I’m going to be OK,” she continued. “I’m like, why is no one talking about this?”
Snooki’s online discovery made her decide to document her treatment plan publicly.
She said: “I’m gonna go on TikTok and say what I’m going through.
“I feel like it was so relatable. We had a platform of women saying, ‘I’m going through the same thing. Thank you so much. I’m going to get a hysterectomy, let’s do it together.’ “
The Jersey Shore star recalled breaking the news of her diagnosis to her and husband Jionni LaValle’s three children, Lorenzo, 13, Giovanna, 11, and six-year-old Angelo.
She said: “I said that mommy has this and has to get surgery and I’m gonna be fine.
“But my oldest was like, ‘Are you going to heaven? Are you dying?’
“[He joked] ‘Are you gonna leave me something?’
“My kids are funny and my kids are amazing. They realised that mommy has to be healthy and needs to get through these surgeries and everything is gonna be OK.”
Snooki is set to undergo a hysterectomy in an attempt to sidestep the need for further treatment and is trying not to look too far into the future.
Asked how she is preparing for the surgery, she simply said: “I’m taking it one step at a time.”
The TV star announced she had been diagnosed with cancer in February and urged her followers to get their Pap smears, a routine screening procedure that collects cells from the cervix to examine them for cancer or precancerous cell changes.
She said: “Obviously not the news that I was hoping for. But also not the worst news, just because they caught it so early.
“That’s why I’m literally telling you guys to get your Pap smears done. I’m 38 years old. I’ve been struggling with abnormal Pap smears for like, three, four years now. And now look at me, and instead of just, like, putting it off because I didn’t want to go, and it hurt and I was scared, no, I just went and did it, [and] cancer’s in there, and it’s only stage I and it’s curable.”
Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi found comfort on TikTok after cancer diagnosis
