BBC Sort Your Life Out star told doctors ‘I can’t live like this’ after treatment-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Dilly Carter, who stars on Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out, has opened up about her health struggles (Picture: BBC)

Sort Your Life Out star Dilly Carter has opened up about the horrific pain she experienced after treatment for cancer.

The professional organiser and founder of service Declutter Dollies appears on the BBC programme alongside Stacey Solomon, Rob Bent and Iwan Carrington as they help families transform their homes.

In 2023, Dilly was missing for a part of the third series and later revealed her health struggles to fans, explaining that she had undergone surgery for cancer and was suffering with immense pain.

She has since kept her loyal followers updated after a difficult few years, and in a poignant end-of-year post last month said: ‘The greatest thing I achieved this year was to stay alive. And for many of us that’s enough.

‘My scars all tell a story and I wear them with pride. Because every one of the 3 major operations have kept me alive.

‘I couldn’t be more proud of my body and what it got me through this year.’

Dilly helps Stacey transform people’s homes (Picture: BBC/Optomen TV/Mark Dolman)

The professional organiser has built up a loyal following of fans (Picture: PA)

Dilly, 43, has now further opened up about the terrifying pain and ‘trauma’ she went through after a hysterectomy in 2022 following her cancer diagnosis.

She told Good Housekeeping: ‘When I woke up after the second surgery, not only had my reproductive system been removed, but they’d also scraped the cancer off my sciatic nerve, so I was in the most horrific pain.

‘I couldn’t do anything; I was crawling up and down the stairs. Nothing in my life will ever beat the trauma of that pain.’

After 28 radiotherapy sessions, Dilly was forced back into hospital because she ‘couldn’t hold anything down’.

Dilly underwent a hysterectomy following her 2022 cancer diagnosis (Picture: Dilly Carter / Instagram)

At the time, she thought she had a stomach bug, but doctors discovered the radiation treatment had damaged her bowel.

‘I told the doctors, “I can’t live like this”, I was defiant,’ she said.

‘They tube-fed me for six months, but I kept trying to eat. I was throwing up several times a day, and went from nine to six stone.

‘Eventually I ended up hospitalised and underwent surgery in August 2023, removing a metre of my bowel.’

Dilly has shared her health journey with fans (Picture: Dilly Carter / Instagram)

She had to have a metre of her bowel removed after immense pain (Picture: Dilly Carter / Instagram)

Despite the devastating health journey she faced and all she’s been through, Dilly has found a way to remain positive, saying: ‘I’ve learned so much, and it’s made me who I am today. I’m really lucky. I’ve always had a positive attitude, but the last two years have taught me that this could all go tomorrow.

‘So make the most of it…I want to empower, educate, motivate and inspire people through my own life experiences.’

After revealing her cancer diagnosis and surgery to fans, Dilly has continued sharing parts of her health journey on Instagram.

In October, she shared a series of snaps from hospital taken over various periods, several of which showed her stomach scars and tubes coming out of her arms and nose.

Dilly has found a way to remain positive and feels ‘really lucky’ (Picture: Dilly Carter / Instagram)

She wrote: ‘I can’t thank the NHS surgeon who took the risk when we begged him to operate and not put me through any more misery, he listened and saw the pain I was in and did it.

‘So this feels like the end of the road ( for now) or for a while.

‘Cancer is a never ending journey. Once it starts it never stops. The side effects are things people rarely talk about but for me were the most damaging of all.

‘Like I said in my stories earlier, survivors guilt is a thing.

She recently celebrated being cancer free for two years (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

‘But I’m ever grateful I made it through this far and although the journey never ends, I feel it’s slowing down to let me breathe so I’ll take that. #cancersurvivor.’

Her post was showered in support from friends and fans alike with Love Island star Dr Alex George writing: ‘You are so strong.’

The following month, she celebrated being cancer free for two years, with her latest scan resulting as clear.

‘If the last two years have taught me anything, it is nothing matters more to me now than being alive and spending time with those I love and living my best life. Everything else is a bonus,’ she said at the time.

Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s March issue on sale from January 30.

Sort Your Life Out is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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