An influencer has spoken of her “fear” after she was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with her second daughter.
Natalia Paragoni underwent medical tests at the end of April after noticing an unusual lump on her neck.
After a period of silence on social media, she told her 1.2m Instagram followers on Saturday (6 Jun) that she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
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The 28-year-old wrote: “It all started on 27 April with a phone call that changed my life.
“I was eight months pregnant, with little Beatrice growing inside me, and I should have been thinking only about her birth.
“Instead, an unexpected piece of news turned that period of anticipation and happiness into a time of fear, questions and uncertainty.”
After giving birth on 5 May, Natalia began chemotherapy treatment in Milan, Italy, as reported by Need To Know.
She said: “In this month I have felt pain, fear and I have cried a great deal, when I should have been doing nothing but rejoicing.”
Natalia went online yesterday (10 Jun) to show that she had cut her hair into a bob after completing her first chemotherapy session and losing her first strands of hair.
She also revealed she felt fortunate to have her family and closest friends by her side, including her partner Andrea and her parents.
“And then there are my daughters, who with their love and their smiles give me immense strength,” she wrote.
Natalia – whose eldest daughter, Ginevra, is two-and-a-half – is known online for her fashion and make-up content.
Originally from Piantedo, in the Italian region of Lombardy, she worked in a beauty salon before becoming a fashion and lingerie model.
She rose to fame in 2019 after appearing as a contestant on the reality show Uomini e Donne, where she met Andrea.
Thanks to major advances in scientific research, Hodgkin’s lymphoma today has excellent treatment outcomes and high chances of recovery.
“Now I have to face a new journey,” Natalia wrote. “I don’t yet know what awaits me, but I know I have to make it and I will make it.
“For my girls.
“For the people I love.
“But above all for me.”
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