‘Gerry Ryan is still the love of my life’ — Melanie Verwoerd opens up about the cancer scare and radical surgery that forced her to confront the past
Melanie Verwoerd was in hospital for a routine gynaecological check-up in the summer of 2021 when her doctor suddenly went silent. Looking intently at the screen, her voice grew serious as she asked: “Oh, what do we have here?”
After a cancer scare and radical surgery, Melanie Verwoerd tells Liadán Hynes about her anger with medical misogny, a journey to confront her past, and why Gerry Ryan is still the love of her life
The doctor turned to Melanie and hold her she’d need to go for a blood test immediately. What had started out as a routine medical appointment had suddenly taken a dark turn. The doctor had seen some- thing on the ovarian ultrasound that war- ranted further investigation…