Marlyne Barrett, a Chicago medical star, has been diagnosed with uterine and ovarian cancer.
The 44-year-old actor told People that she felt a responsibility to tell her story after doctors discovered a football-sized tumor on her uterus and left ovary in July.
The diagnosis came a few years after her Chicago Med character, Maggie Lockwood, was diagnosed with breast cancer on the show.
When my character went through breast cancer, I had a sea of people reach out to me through social media. They brought me courage, and so I felt a sense of inevitability to meet their hearts where they met me, said Barrett.
The former Wire star who shares 11 month-old twins Joshuah-Jireh and Ahnne-N Urya with her husband, pastor Gavin Barrett, said she hopes sharing her story will help others facing cancer to be brave.
She said we are so scared to face the mortality of life, or even to pronounce the word cancer. We have so much strength inside of us than we think. Barrett told People she first discovered changes in her body after undergoing a hernia repair in April.
She said that I had an accumulation of fluid in my abdomen that I couldn't shake. I looked like I was nine months pregnant. I had shortness of breath, but no pain, which was interesting. In July, doctors discovered the mass on her ovary and uterus.
The actor said that the initial experience was a shock, a shock to my womanhood. I didn't believe them, but when they showed me the CT scan, I went, Oh my word. I just fell into my husband's arms. She said that it still takes my breath away when I think about it.
Barrett's doctors explained that she needed to fight the cancer with aggressive chemotherapy and eventually undergo a hysterectomy.
The best way I could experience it was to meet it, said the mom of two. There is no running from it because it is my life. You surrender when you realize it's so big than anything you've ever faced. I found this courage and I hunkered down and said I'm going to face this. Barrett decided to shave her head rather than lose her hair to chemo. She said that my hair has always been an essence of beauty. I took my own razor and shaved my head. I did it in front of my babies so that they would see it was still Mommy. I wept, I wept, I wept. It was a beautiful experience to do it in front of them. Barrett credited her incredible husband, whom she married in 2009, with giving her the support she needs at home. She expressed gratitude to the cast and crew of Chicago Med for going the extra mile for her.
She said she had had people shaved their heads on the set to support me.
Barrett has learned to take her situation day by day as she prepares to undergo a third round of chemo.
She said that there is a wave of emotion that comes. It's okay not to have it all together. You can't hold on to fear. I am holding on to faith. She said, "I find new strength every day because of my children, I want to see them get married one day." I will do it.