<\/p>\n Actress Marisa Abela<\/strong><\/a> was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was 23.<\/p>\n \u201cI was literally in a hospital bed when episode one [of my BBC1 show Industry<\/i>] aired,\u201d Abela, now 27, told The Times of London <\/i><\/a>in a Saturday, October 5, profile. \u201cAnd it was [during the] COVID [pandemic], so I was in the burns unit because there was no space for me in the ICU.\u201d<\/p>\n Abela had undergone both surgery and a radioactive iodine treatment<\/a>, in which patients must swallow medication in either pill or liquid form before isolating in a room lined with lead for 24 hours. RAI therapy then uses a low dose of radiation to help treat thyroid cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is mental. A sort of nuclear physicist in an astronaut suit gives you this box and you unscrew the box and tip it up and this pulsating neon tablet goes into you \u2014 like something from the opening of The Simpsons,<\/i>\u201d Abela recalled. \u201cAnd then this man, standing on the other side of the room, points a sort of gun thing at you to see how nuclear you are and it goes like, \u2018Bbbbrrrrrrr\u2019 and he\u2019s like, \u2018Yup, good to go,\u2019 and he runs out of the room. And you\u2019re just left there thinking, \u2018This is in my body. How has someone just given this to me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Once Abela was able to return home, she struggled to accept the toll that the treatment had taken on her body.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first went to the bathroom after surgery and I saw myself in the mirror, I thought, \u2018That\u2019s it, my career is over,\u2019 because [my neck] was stapled, bloody,\u201d Abela said in Saturday\u2019s profile. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t pretty at all and the scar is big. [I couldn\u2019t] imagine ever playing a character where her description isn\u2019t, \u2018And she has this big scar on her neck.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Abela has since been in remission and seldom discusses her cancer battle<\/a>, but it still shifted her outlook on life.<\/p>\n You have successfully subscribed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a distrust within your body that I really wouldn\u2019t wish on anyone. This thing existed inside me for years without me knowing it was there \u2014 and that has changed my relationship with my body,\u201d she confessed to The Times<\/i>. \u201cI\u2019m really not an \u2018everything happens for a reason\u2019 kind of person, and I don\u2019t think that should happen to anyone, but I think that it does mean that you have a real perspective on what is important and what\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n Going through the illness, in particular, helped Abela realize how \u201cimportant\u201d her career is to her. (She recently played Amy Winehouse<\/strong> in May\u2019s Back to Black <\/i>biopic<\/a>, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n \u201cI enjoy it so much, but when, for example, something like playing Amy \u2014 where things can go crazy and people have their opinions before anyone\u2019s even seen it \u2014 I\u2019ve been through more than that and I understand what my priorities are,\u201d Abela said. \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said it doesn\u2019t affect me, but fundamentally my priority is trying to maintain a healthy body. When you\u2019re on cancer wards, you\u2019re seeing things that are so bleak and so sad and it really does just put everything into perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n Marisa Abela<\/span> Jeff Spicer\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThank You!<\/h3>\n
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\n Marisa Abela<\/span> Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images for Balmain<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n