ENTERTAINMENT
Hallmark Star Brennan Elliott Calls Wife Cami a ‘Warrior’ After Her 16th Round of Chemo in 2 Years
Brennan Elliott first announced his wife Cami’s stage IV cancer diagnosis in an Instagram post in April
Brennan Elliott is praising his wife and her bravery as she continues to battle cancer.
While attending Christmas Con in Pasadena, California over the weekend, the Hallmark star, 47, spoke with PEOPLE about how his wife Cami is doing amid her ongoing health challenges.
“She’s hanging in there. She finished her last eighth round of chemo. Well, she’s done 16 over the last two or three years,” Elliott said. “Yeah, she’s a warrior.”
Elliott first announced Cami had been diagnosed with stage IV metastatic gastric cancer in a post on Instagram in April. “Those closest to me know that my wife Cami has had several bouts with cancer in the past but now she embarks on a new journey as a Stage IV metastatic gastric cancer patient,” he wrote in part.
Speaking about the post, Elliott said he and his wife were blown away by the response from fans and loved ones.
“We posted something and I didn’t want to post anything and bring it back to me, so I posted something on my social media that was all about her because I wanted it to be about her,” he explained. “We had like over a million people praying for her in like two days. It was just bananas. It’s a testament to the fans, the people that watch this channel and the people that are in the cancer community.”
“I think everybody’s been affected by [cancer],” the Christmas in Vienna actor continued. “It’s a dreadful disease and it’s something that’s obviously dear to my heart, cause obviously my wife’s gone through it.”
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In the wake of Cami’s treatments, Elliott said his wife has been “resting” and receiving “the best care.”
“Right now, there’s no evidence of disease. We’re happy about that,” he shared. “We just want to keep that cancer critter away from her. It’s a lot of long nights, not a lot of sleeping with the kids and stuff.”
“But when I come here, it’s a bit of a reprieve, because I get a chance to be surrounded by the fans… everybody’s just really good people. It’s really, really lovely,” he added of attending Christmas Con. “Then, when I go home, it kind of enriches me a little bit to keep going.”
Elliott also noted that he refuses to “shy away from or lie about” his wife’s health journey and claim that “everything’s fine.”
“Because it’s not, it’s not fine,” he said. “It’s an absolute nightmare.”
Referencing his upcoming Hallmark project Marry Go Round, Elliott added, “I think that maybe that might be why it’s more of a love story that I was expecting … because there’s much more of a rawness and a vulnerability maybe in my life that when I read these things, I’m like, ‘Wow, this kind of correlates a little bit.’ It’s been nice.”
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In April, the actor praised Cami in his Instagram post, writing, “There is no one I consider braver, stronger, more Fearless even when you’re Faced with a sinister opponent who never plays fair.”
He honored his wife for not letting “countless surgeries and chemotherapy rounds” stop her from pushing “ahead into spring taking on the one of the most aggressive types of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.”
“As you all know me to be a very private person, this feels scary and exposing but If there is any hope that her story can help Even one person, then her cancer Experience Was Not Done in vain. Please keep @Camilla_row in your prayers. #stomachcancer #hopeforstomachcancer #prayersforhealing #stage4needsmore,” he added.
One month later, Elliott updated fans on Cami’s health journey, writing on Instagram, “She has made it to the halfway point! So proud of her!???????? this is the toughest experience @camilla_row has ever had to go thru [sic]. Many years of cancer treatment/surgeries etc but this one has beaten her up for sure but like all great fighters there is no quit in this girl.”
Marry Go Round premieres Saturday Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. ET on The Hallmark Channel.
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