One of Chicago Med‘s own is sharing their personal health battle: star Marlyne Barrett with her uterine and ovarian cancer diagnosis.
The actress opened up about the diagnosis to People, revealing that doctors discovered a football-sized tumor on her uterus and left ovary in July. Currently, Barrett has been undergoing “aggressive” chemotherapy while still working on the beloved Chicago-based procedural on which she plays Maggie Lockwood.
Despite the treatment regiment, the illness hasn’t had any impact on the actress’s ability to appear on the Dick Wolf medical drama. As she goes through these treatments, Barrett is preparing to undergo an eventual hysterectomy.
Barrett’s been with the show since it debuted in 2015 and has appeared in the One Chicago franchise’s other entries, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire. Chicago Med is currently in its eighth season on NBC.
“Work brings me a lot of joy right now,” Barrett shared with People. “It brings me a lot of reprieve to think about something other than, ‘When is my next chemo shift?’ and ‘’How am I going to hug my children?’”
As a mother to 11-month-old twins, Barrett revealed that her character’s 2019 breast cancer storyline is part of the reason she was inspired to go public with her own cancer battle. “I’m an extremely private person, but I felt a responsibility to tell my story,” she said. “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.”
When it comes to the fight ahead, Barrett said, “We have so much more strength inside of us than we think.”
Chicago Med, Season 8, Wednesdays, 8/7c, NBC
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