Vicki Belo reveals she battled stage 3 breast cancer: 'I was told I was going to die'
Despite what we see on Vicki Belo's luxurious and lavish Instagram, her life is far from perfect, as she said in an interview with Korina Sanchez. A fact not known by the public is she battled Stage 3 breast cancer, with doctors saying she wouldn't survive it.
The celebrity surgeon said she was diagnosed in 2016 and sought treatments in Europe.
"I went to Europe for treatment so I kind of disappeared for a year and a half to two years," Belo said. "I was told I was going to die. 'Don't bother to have chemo, just fix your affairs, you're dead in two years.'"
She then went to New York Presbyterian, where experts were also uncertain about her chances. During treatments, her husband Hayden Kho and ex-spouse Atom Henares were at her side.
2016 was an eventful year for Belo, her daughter Cristalle was getting married and she was going through chemo while she attended the wedding. Her mother also passed away that year.
The public wasn't aware of Belo's health situation but she still continued to make appearances on TV. She was interviewed by CNN two days after she had chemotherapy.
"When you do chemo, you're green, you're basically green and you look so sick," the celebrity doctor shared. "I was feeling bloated and ugly."
"While I was having my interview, hair was falling on the floor... It was plenty clumps. I couldn't concentrate [during] the interview," Belo added.
Finding the will to go on
She was later asked what her plans were for the future, to which she thought, "If you have cancer kasi wala kang plans, you just want to get well. I don't plan because I don't know if I was gonna be alive or not."
During that interview, she revealed that she and Kho had a one-year-old baby named Scarlet. She told Korina that her baby kept her going.
"I really look at her, and I want to be with her, and I don't want to leave her naman so young," she said tearfully. "I keep praying, 'Lord, please give me time.'"
“Nakikita niyo yung Instagram, akala niyo yung life namin perfect. Wala talagang perfect na buhay. Lagi niyong hanapin yung ganda sa buhay niyo. Health is wealth, so now that’s really my thing,” she continued.