Best known for her roles in “How I Met Your Mother” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Cobie Smulders was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the young age of 25. “The diagnosis was a real shock…But I got through it because I had to,” she says, in an article first published on LennyLetters, now summarized on the Firstforwomen site.
The initial symptoms Cobie experienced were unsettling: “I had felt like something was off. My energy was low, I was tired all the time, and I felt a constant pressure on my abdomen that I could not explain.”
Once diagnosed, Cobie still had to deal with the shock she was experiencing, whilst continuing her career and turning up each day on set to do her job:
“Just when your ovaries should be brimming with youthful follicles, cancerous cells overtook mine, threatening to end my fertility and potentially my life.”
Fortunately, Cobie engaged with the recovery process energetically and successfully. Despite numerous surgeries over two years, Smulders has been cancer-free for over a decade, proving that determination can overpower even the grimmest diagnoses.
In her words:
“I wish that we as women spent as much time on the well-being of our insides as we do with our looks on the outside. If you are going through something like this, I urge you to look at all your options.”
