Bachelor in Paradise couple Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt have revealed Joe's symptoms and thanked fans for their support after his brain tumor diagnosis.
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The Bachelor in Paradise couple shared how they both had full-body MRI scans with Prenuvo, with whom they're doing a professional partnership, just to be proactive about their health.
"About two days later... Joe gets a phone call," Serena, 28, recalled.
Joe, 40, said it was "a little strange" to receive a call so quickly and so he wondered if Prenuvo was trying to expedite the process.
"However, they hadn't called me yet, which I thought was a little funky. At the time, we were like, 'This might be nothing,'" Serena said.
The couple attended a friend's birthday party that night and apparently didn't have a care in the world.
"Realistically, I just turned 40. I was really thinking it was going to be like, 'You have an enlarged prostate,'" Joe admitted.
"You were convinced that's what it was going to be. You kept saying that!" Serena agreed.
Joe explained how he pees a lot at night and so he thought to himself, "That's probably what it is."
But when Joe spoke to his doctor on the phone, he was told he has "a lesion" in his brain.
"[They said], 'It looks to be, potentially, the size of a large blueberry or a small grape or a marble.' A marble is what I actually prefer," Joe said.
"It's in the frontal lobe of my brain. The doctor was pretty alarming where he was like, 'You've got to go get this checked within the next week or two. It's urgent.'"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWSerena explained how Joe needed to schedule a 30 or 40-minute "with out without contrast MRI" strictly on his brain because the full-body scans only spend about 10 minutes on each part of the body.
"So I go get it and I get the results back within 24 hours, and... the radiologist characterized it as non-enhancing... no mass effect. Looks to be an early-stage glioma, which is a tumor... Grade 1 or 2," Joe shared.
Joe said the news was pretty shocking because, "for the most part," he wasn't really experiencing any symptoms.
"It was scary. We were feeling really anxious," Serena confessed.
When reflecting back on recent months, Joe said, "Now I kind of feel like I might have symptoms, but some of them are self-induced. So that's a difficult territory," Joe explained.
Serena said Joe has been struggling with headaches, anxiety and nausea, but he quickly corrected his wife.
"I don't have any headaches," Joe clarified.
"The symptoms I'm having now are more like lightheadedness, and I think a lot of it now is more anxiety, I believe. But who knows? What I would be experiencing more of [based on] where it is in my brain would be lack of motor skills, personality changes, and memory loss."
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Joe acknowledged, "The surgery is very dangerous. It's a craniotomy, which is scary. It's a serious surgery," Joe said.
Serena clarified how a surgeon will cut out a piece of Joe's skull and take out as much of the tumor as they can. Titanium screws will apparently be used to close up Joe's skull.
"Even though it's slow-growing, the likelihood of it growing into something aggressive or problematic is very high," Serena noted. "They are amazed we caught it so early... so that's good news."
Joe revealed that his surgery is scheduled for the end of July and he's choosing to remain positive.
"[I'm] keeping my stress levels low. [I think that] is the best thing I could do for my health in this current moment," Joe said.
Serena concluded, "They said a few days in the hospital, a few weeks out, and then you'll be back and better than ever, baby! We hope that you guys take away from this to advocate for yourself, ask questions. You know, health is never something to mess around with."
After sharing the news of his brain tumor diagnosis with the world, Joe took to Instagram Stories to speak directly to his fans.
"A lot of people have been reaching out to me. A lot of uplifting messages and stories. And honestly, it's been really great. A little overwhelmed right now, but overall, thank you everyone," Joe said.
"It's really crazy just how many people have dealt with this and different brain surgeries and different types of cancer. And I love hearing stories and I just want to thank everyone."
Serena, for her part, also thanked people for all of their "love and support."
"Finding out that Joe has a brain tumor has come with so many emotions. It has felt very scary, overwhelming and heavy at times," Serena shared.
"We feel so blessed to have an amazing community who is supporting us and helping us hold onto a positive mind set throughout all of this! I truly believe Joe is going to get through this, and no matter what happens we're going to face it together."
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After being a Night 1 boot, Joe returned for Season 5 of Bachelor in Paradise, where he fell in love with Kendall Long.
After Joe and Kendall split, Joe looked for love on Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise in 2021 and found it with Serena.
Joe and Serena quietly tied the knot in a New York City courthouse in 2022 before having a bigger "magical" wedding for family and friends in South Carolina in September 2023.
Joe also previously competed on Dancing with the Stars.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
