Heavy/Hallmark/MyGutFeeling Brennan Elliott in Hallmark's "The Gift of Peace." Inset: Elliott's wife, Camilla Row
Less than a month after Camilla Row, wife of Hallmark star Brennan Elliott, shared promising test results and celebrated beating the two-year survival rate doctors had quoted when she was first diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, the mom of two has revealed that her cancer journey has taken another challenging turn.
On March 27, 2024, Row shared via her private Instagram account that after undergoing a quarterly laparoscopic check of her peritoneum — a procedure she said Elliott jokingly calls “looking under the hood” — doctors found evidence of cancer again.
“Two out of five samples came back positive for cancer,” Row revealed in her post.
“I know now my cancer is trying to comeback in the most ferocious and sneaky way,” she continued. “Just to remind you all, I had an ALL CLEAR Pet-Ct scan not even a month ago.”
Brennan Elliott’s Wife Underwent Surgery to Detect Any New Signs of Cancer
First diagnosed with early stage gastric cancer in 2018 at age 39, Row underwent successful treatment, including the surgical removal of her stomach. But by 2022, the cancer had returned and spread, resulting in her stage 4 diagnosis.
At that point, she told Orange Coast Magazine, she and Elliott went public with her cancer journey and she became a passionate patient advocate, pushing for more research and treatment options.
“My husband is an actor, and I never wanted to impact his career,” she told the magazine in January. “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, I felt a real duty to become an advocate for other stomach cancer patients. And I had to be an advocate for myself.”
Now 45, Row has been through countless medical interventions, from innovative surgeries at City of Hope in Los Angeles to various chemotherapy regimens. After a January 2024 surgery and 10 rounds of a new chemotherapy drug, she shared via Instagram on March 4 that the radiology report featured the word “stable” in three places.
She wrote at the time, “99% of this looks good and I am letting out a big sigh of relief and screaming thank you’s to sky above. Stable and no new sites of metastasis is AWESOME!”
But three weeks later, after Row’s laparoscopic procedure, she shared that doctors found “two new tiny nodules (~2mm) in my pelvis.” Both were removed for testing and her “chipper” oncologist encouraged her not to worry.
Elliott, who turned 49 on March 24, took that optimism to heart, posting a cartoon on Instagram that said, “The giant that’s in front of you is never bigger than the God who’s inside of you!”
The “Gift of Peace” star added in the caption, “Enough said!!!”
So he and Row — who share son Liam, 11, and daughter Luna, 9 — were taken aback when the biopsy results came in, revealing that one of the nodules was cancerous and that “some scattered cancer foci was found in my scar tissue/abdominal wall,” Row shared.
She wrote, “I have been deeply processing this information and of course can’t deny it hit us hard.”
Camilla Row Says She’s Remaining Optimistic & Grateful Despite Cancer Setback
“No one wants to hear their cancer is trying to make comeback,” Row wrote in her March 27 update.
However, she wrote that she feels that she’s “in a good spot” because her doctors continue to take extra measures to determine whether cancer has popped up again, rather than rely entirely on scans.
“We know the surveillance is working and catching everything at a microscopic level so we can intervene early,” she wrote. “So I am grateful for this was all found and we can do something to squash this comeback. To put it in perspective, if I only relied on scans, I would have ‘no evidence of disease’ for the past 2 years.”
In February, Row’s surgical oncologist, Dr. Yanghee Woo, told Today.com, “Stomach cancer can hide very well. It’s not very distinct unless it gets very big.”
Among the often-overlooked symptoms, she said, are persistent nausea, discomfort after eating, unintended weight loss, abdominal pain, and bad acid reflux.
Row shared on Instagram that after meeting with Dr. Woo, her next steps include “waiting on some further testing to guide treatment” and exploring available trials.
“I am hopeful and though this is one step back, I still believe I am headed in the right direction,” she wrote.
“Thank you for keeping me in your prayers,” she continued. “They keep me going! And as I have some big decisions to make, please keep me in your thoughts.”