The Bachelorette alum Katie Thurston has opened up about "turning pain into purpose" as she continues to battle stage 4 breast cancer.

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"When you're in stage 4, you're deemed 'not curable,' so that's where we're at. But it's been almost a year [since I was first diagnosed] and my medicine is working. My tumor is shrinking. My energy is coming back and I feel good. I feel blessed," Katie shared during a recent "Grave Conversations" interview on YouTube.

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"Some people like to use the word 'terminal,' but I don't identify with the word 'terminal' because that's such a morbid word. I don't want to think of a timeline over my head."

But Katie said she does "believe in the future of medicine" and "that there will be a cure, eventually."

"But for now, I'm on a maintenance plan," she noted, adding how she's taking medications daily and "fighting the good fight."

Katie said she was in a "dark depression" for a little bit but knows she still has "a lot to live for," regardless of how much time she has left.

Katie gushed about how she stops to smell the roses and pays attention to happy little details.

"Having energy, to me, is a very good day," she shared.

When asked to reveal something positive she's taken away from this entire experience, Katie responded, "Turning pain into purpose."

"Just knowing like the DMs I get... you go, 'This is why I'm doing it. This is why I was -- I hate to say -- I was picked for breast cancer.' I wasn't, maybe, I don't know," Katie said.

But The Bachelor alum expressed pride in how many women have reached out to her saying they got checked for cancer after hearing her story.

"[Someone] said, 'Because of you, I found my cancer earlier than my doctors -- [they] wouldn't have even looked at me.' You know, like those stories are like, hell yeah," she said.

Katie boasted about how she knows, "for certain," that she has "saved somebody's life."

The Bachelorette alum explained, "Maybe even my mom's. And that is such a cool feeling of almost, like, you feel like your life is a little complete, like, you did your part in the world."

"Not that I want to die tomorrow," she clarified, "but if I did, I know I did good before I left."

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Katie concluded that she's looking forward to going on a honeymoon with her husband Jeff Arcuri and eventually having kids with him to fill the home they just purchased and are renovating.

Katie took to her Boobie Broadcast channel on June 11 to share a new update with fans on her stage 4 breast cancer, which metastasized to her liver, People reported.

Katie explained that her liver enzyme levels were still high, even though recent scans had shown there is no longer evidence of cancer in her liver.

Doctors allegedly wanted to conduct more testing, which would unfortunately mean more needle pokes for Katie, but she decided to take "a little break" from her treatment "for mental health reasons."

"I really need to take a break from all the pokes and surgeries and just try to enjoy a somewhat normal summer," she told her doctors.

Katie -- who first announced she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2025 -- underwent a double mastectomy in April 2026.

Katie, who competed on Matt James' The Bachelor season before starring on The Bachelorette's seventeenth season, hard launched her relationship with Jeff in June 2024. She announced at the time, "Safe to say he's making it to hometowns next week," which was a nod to her prior The Bachelorette stint in 2021.

Katie and Jeff got engaged in August 2024, and then Katie moved from California to New York for Jeff and her cancer treatments.

Katie subsequently sought IVF in early 2025 so that the couple can hopefully welcome children one day.

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"We were able to retrieve 17 eggs and of those 17, six became embryos," she previously shared.

Katie and Jeff tied the knot in an intimate backyard wedding in March 2025, and Katie said they'll have a bigger wedding after she beats cancer.

"He is proving that he's here to stay. He shows up every day and he does it in ways that just continue to surprise," Katie gushed to Us Weekly last year.

Prior to falling in love with Jeff, Katie had a short-lived engagement to her The Bachelorette 17 winner Blake Moynes.

Katie's The Bachelorette season ended on ABC in August 2021, and then she and Blake -- a Canadian wildlife specialist -- announced their breakup only a couple of months later in October 2021.

Katie then went public with her romance with John Hersey, whom she had eliminated during Week 2 of her The Bachelorette journey, in November 2021. She was accused of moving on from Blake quickly with "a rebound" and emotionally cheating on her ex-fiance.

Katie and John split after less than one year together in June 2022, and Katie expressed on numerous occasions how John dumped her after she had allegedly given the relationship everything she had.

After ending her relationship with John, Katie made a cameo on Bachelor in Paradise's ninth season in 2023 and found closure with Blake, who remained her friend post-show.

Katie then she decided to pursue a unique opportunity and look for love on FBoy Island.

Katie had a brief public relationship with FBoy Island's Vince Xu, but Katie announced their breakup in December 2023.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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