Former Home And Away star Alea O'Shea, 25, has been diagnosed with brain cancer. Photo / TikTok
Aussie actress Alea O’Shea has revealed she has been diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 25.
The former Home And Away star shared the devastating news on her social media channels over the weekend, telling followers she learnt of her condition after a biopsy on her birthday.
“This is a video I obviously thought I’d never have to make, but I’ve recently been diagnosed with brain cancer,” she began in the clip.
“Saying that like, a hook, is insane. It’s been a crazy few weeks.”
O’Shea, who is now a social media star, explained she was in “limbo” waiting for results, but now she has some “clarity” and wants to share her journey with followers.
“I’m choosing to be open and honest about this online, because I want to live my life as normally as possible while I’m fighting this,” she said, revealing that she will soon undergo cancer treatment.
O’Shea – best known for her role as Darcy Callahan on H&A between 2011 and 2014 and then again from 2016 to 2017 – revealed she first began to feel something felt “off” six weeks ago when she noticed tiny changes with her body, which she initially ignored.
“I noticed that my smile was a little uneven, and it felt harder to talk [and] get my words out,” she shared in the clip, which has clocked more than 235,000 views on TikTok alone.
“I had a few migraines, but nothing scary.”
But things rapidly got worse during a recent work trip to the United States.
“While I was in Los Angeles, I lost feeling in two of my fingers, which then crept into my wrist and then my toe,” she explained.
She put it down to a pinched nerve and visited her physiotherapist, but he urged her to seek medical attention.
“He immediately realised it was beyond his scope and sent me to get a brain scan. And that’s how we found it,” she recalled.
Despite the severity of her diagnosis – she is still able to move, but the left side of her body has been slightly affected – O’Shea is choosing to remain positive.
“I can still walk, I can still lift my arm,” she said while doing the movements.
“[But] can I flip you off? No. Thumbs up? No. Or hold things? No.”
“But the good news is, where it is on my brain isn’t going to affect my personality. I’m still going to be as hilarious, and have the gift of the gab.”
The actress-turned-social-media star will require surgery, which doctors say could lead to hair loss and paralysis to the left side of her body, but said she and her medical team will take it one day at a time.
“In the coming months, I might be doing videos one handed. I might disappear when I need to, but mostly, I’m going to be showing up as me every single day that I can,” she promised, while thanking fans for their support.
“To everyone who follows me and has been invested in my journey thus far, regardless, thank you so much for being here. And thank you for staying through this chapter,” she continued, adding that her diagnosis will not become her “whole personality”.
“It’s just another part of my story,” she concluded. “And if it can bring some perspective, comfort, or positivity to other people out there going through it, whilst helping me get through it, that’s all I could ever want.”
O’Shea’s diagnosis comes two years after fellow Home And Away star Johnny Ruffo died from the condition aged 35.
The actor, who played Chris Harrington on the Aussie soap, first revealed his health struggle in August 2017, saying he had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumour. A week later, he announced he had been diagnosed with brain cancer and would be starting aggressive treatment.
Some positive news came in 2019, when Ruffo said he had been cleared of cancer, but then came news in November 2020 the cancer had returned.
He died in November 2023 after a six-year battle.
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