Heavy/Getty/MyGutFeeling Brennan Elliott, inset: Camilla Row
When Hallmark star Brennan Elliott‘s wife, Camilla Row, was first diagnosed with early-stage stomach cancer in 2018, she opted to keep the news private, worried it might negatively impact his thriving career.
But since a December 2021 cancer recurrence led to a stage 4 diagnosis, Row has found her voice as a patient advocate, speaking out about the need for more research and education about the disease — all while undergoing treatment to keep her cancer at bay.
“Up until then, I hadn’t been public with my diagnosis,” she told Orange Coast magazine in its January 2024 issue. “My husband is an actor, and I never wanted to impact his career. I didn’t want anyone who was considering hiring him to think, well he can’t do it because he’s got a sick wife at home.”
“But when I was diagnosed stage 4,” Row continued, “I felt a real duty to become an advocate for other stomach cancer patients. And I had to be an advocate for myself.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Camila Row Says She ‘Was Not Ready to Die’ & Dove Into Advocacy Work After Cancer Returned
Less than three weeks after undergoing her seventh HIPEC surgery, which delivers heated chemo directly into the abdomen, Row has just returned to her family’s Los Angeles home after attending the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco.
It was one of many appearances she’s made, both in-person and virtually, to connect with fellow gastric cancer patients and to push for education and research within the oncology community. Using her voice to advocate for herself and fellow patients has become a passion since Row’s cancer was upgraded to stage 4.
“I went from a stage 1 survivor to a stage 4 patient overnight,” she told Orange Coast magazine. “It was a lot to process. A lot of the data was suggesting that I had months to live. But I was not ready to die.”
“I’m a clinical psychologist by trade,” she continued, “but through this experience I found this new calling to advocate for patients to receive personalized care. Especially with stage 4 patients, there’s a tendency to write us off and say that we should have no expectation to be cured.”
Before her initial diagnosis, Row saw doctors for over two years about her terrible heartburn, for which they gave her prescription medications like Prilosec, she told the Hope for Stomach Cancer advocacy group in April 2022. It was only when she had an endoscopy in June 2018 that they discovered an aggressive cancer called signet ring cell carcinoma.
Row had her entire stomach removed in a total gastrectomy, she said, and had 47 lymph nodes removed. After chemo treatments, she achieved NED (no evidence of disease) status and was closely monitored with frequent blood tests and scans.
When Atypical Hyperplasia was found in her breast, she opted for a preventative double mastectomy in May 2021. At the end of that year, she went in for a routine CT scan which discovered new tumors in her abdomen and said her “heart sank” because she knew it meant she was officially stage 4.
She told Hope for Stomach Cancer, “I wasn’t ready for this, but whoever is? Right? Whoever thinks about how they will die until it’s facing them smack in the face and you have no choice but to fight. Giving up in just not an option. It doesn’t exist.”
After her most recent HIPEC surgery in early January, Row celebrated on her private Instagram account that no new cancer was found during the operation, but said that her doctor did find atypical cells, which can become malignant.
“Not gonna lie, I had a moment of deep disappointment when she told me about the atypicals, but I am thankful,” Row wrote, adding that overall it was an “amazing outcome.”
Camilla Row is Determined to Beat the Odds With Her Family By Her Side
According to City of Hope cancer center, where Row is a patient, 34.6 percent of those diagnosed with regionalized metastatic stomach cancer — meaning their cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes, tissues or organs — survive more than five years after their diagnosis, while only six percent of those with “distant” spread to other body parts survive that long.
“The survival rate is about 6 percent,” she told Orange Coast magazine. “But I tell myself, I could be in that 6 percent. What’s stopping me?”
She continued, “What’s helped me cope is giving back to the stomach cancer community, leading support groups. Letting people know that you have to speak up for yourself and empower yourself with information. To know that I’m making some sort of difference makes the cancer part suck a little less.”
Row is determined to beat the odds, and Elliott is in lockstep with her, serving as her chief cheerleader and caregiver when he’s not traveling to film for Hallmark.
When the couple decided to publicly share her stage 4 diagnosis in April 2022, Elliott wrote on Instagram, “There is no one I consider braver, stronger, more Fearless even when you’re Faced with a sinister opponent who never plays fair. Even after countless surgeries and chemotherapy rounds, She forges ahead into spring taking on the one of the most aggressive types of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.”
In September 2023, Elliott shared a tribute to Row on social media in honor of their 12th wedding anniversary.
“I know in my heart the lord will bless us with decades more of HEALTH and HAPPINESS and nobody deserves that more than you,” he wrote. “THANK YOU for saying yes to this prairie boy and always know I will never leave your side.”
Row not only wants to continue her advocacy work, but also be a present mom to their kids — Liam, 11, and Luna, 9. On her private Instagram account, she has recently shared multiple excursions they’ve taken as a family despite her continued chemo treatments.
In November, she shared that they had an “absolute blast” on a two-day trip to Las Vegas, managing to squeeze in arcade games at Circus Vegas, a visit to Top Golf, and attend the Jabbawockeez show, where Elliott was randomly chosen to sing his “favorite song of all time,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”
Row wrote, “I was still at the tail end of being sick from chemo but we made it! 48 hours of craziness.”
In December, she celebrated feeling well enough to spend a day at Disneyland and also to attend a tree lighting ceremony at Legoland that Elliott conducted with his “Ms. Christmas Comes to Town” co-stars Barbara Niven and Ashley Williams.
“Feeling proud,” Row wrote about seeing her husband on stage. “B has supported me so much lately, it’s my turn to cheer him on from the crowd.”