Miles Ocampo. Image: screengrab from YouTube/Karen Davila
Miles Ocampo, who is now cancer-free, looked back on her ordeal with the disease and disclosed that she underwent surgery without knowing she had been diagnosed with it.
“That time, kakaputok lang ng ‘Batang Quiapo’ so ang dami kong naka-line up na gagawin. ‘Yung doctor ko sinabi sakin na ito ‘yung situation ko, na parang ayaw pa nila sabihin ‘yung cancer sa akin,” she recalled in a vlog on broadcaster Karen Davila’s YouTube channel on Thursday, Jan. 11.
(That time, my “Batang Quiapo” stint was just gaining attention, so I had so many projects lined up. My doctor told me my situation, but they didn’t tell me that it was cancer.)
“Alam na ng doctor ko at ng manager ko that time na cancer siya pero hindi pa nila sinasabi sa akin. Ang sinabi nila, kahit anong mangyari at kahit anong maging resulta nung biopsy, kailangan na tanggalin [‘yung bukol] ASAP,” she continued.
(My doctor and my manager already knew that it was cancer, but they opted not to tell me right away. What they told me was that whatever happened and whatever the biopsy result would be, I would need to remove the lump on my neck as soon as possible.)
READ: Miles Ocampo admits she still has love for Elijah Canlas, considers him her ‘true love’
Ocampo said she did not initially realize the gravity of her condition until her manager canceled all her work commitments to schedule her thyroid surgery.
“Nalaman kong cancer siya nung after na nung operation… After my operation, may mga naiwan pang cancer cells na kumalat so nag-radiation pa ako pero oral lang that time,” the actress revealed.
(I only discovered after the operation that I had cancer. There were cancer cells that spread after the surgery, so I needed to undergo radiation [therapy] but orally.)
When Davila asked about her health status, Ocampo declared, “I’m cancer-free, but ‘yung meds ko habangbuhay na siya (I have a life-long medication).”
Ocampo further noted that her medication affects her weight, and admitted that the changes in her body caused her to be depressed.
“Darating talaga ‘yung [time na] parang ayoko lumabas, parang lahat ng damit ko walang magkasya—it was so depressing po,” she told Davila. (There were times when I didn’t want to go out, and when all of my clothes wouldn’t fit—it was so depressing.)
“Hanggang sa umabot na lang ako sa point na, ‘Ay napapagod na ako ma-depress dahil sa weight ko. Napapagod na ako isipin kung anong sasabihin ng ibang tao,'” she added. “Wala na akong [pakialam] kung anong sabihin sa weight ko kasi alam ko naman ‘yung totoo.”
(Then I came to a point when I got tired of being depressed over my weight. I got tired of thinking about what other people have to say. I no longer care about comments on my weight because I know the truth.)
Ocampo first opened up about her papillary thyroid carcinoma—a type of cancer that affects the thyroid—diagnosis in April last year, a month after her thyroid surgery.