Dilly Carter explained her adoption plans during an emotional episode of Sort Your Life Out on Tuesday night.
The 43-year-old home organization expert stars in the BBC One show with Stacey Solomon, and as the team helped a family who had adopted in the series four finale, Dilly spoke about her own journey to parenthood.
Dilly, who has starred in the hit show since episode one, revealed in April 2023 that she had been diagnosed with uterine cancer, meaning she was unable to film for some episodes in series three.
She had undergone treatment for large, painful fibroids in her stomach and uterus, requiring major surgery during filming before she later learned that one of the fibroids was cancerous – and she was told she had stage one uterine cancer.
She underwent a radical hysterectomy and later discovered that the cancer had gone from stage one to stage three and had spread, requiring the removal of both the lymph nodes and her uterus.
Dilly Carter explained her adoption plans during an emotional episode of Sort Your Life Out on Tuesday night after being diagnosed with uterine cancer last year
During the latest episode of Sort Your Life Out, Dilly explained that although she has a daughter Nelly, ten, and her husband Charley, she has been unable to have children since her surgery and is now planning to adopt.
Dilly herself is adopted and explains to Sarah and Katherine, the adoptive daughters featured on the show, how having her own child had meant so much to her.
“Do you think your attitude will change now that you have your own children about adoption?” Dilly asked. “I know for me, when I had my own child, Nelly, she was my first bloodline.”
“Because I think, Oh my God, you’re the only person I’m really related to. I have no one else in this country, no one else in my life. And it’s a very strange feeling, isn’t it?’
Sarah explained, “I feel like it definitely healed a part of me. I think I always wanted children since I was a teenager. I’ve always wanted that.
“Not that we had a void with Mom and Dad, but I think meeting you and talking about this has been the most open, especially for my mother, ever. I think as kids it was always, “No, don’t tell anyone.”
“You’d feel like, ‘Oh, it’s a secret. I can’t tell anyone.’ I think she was afraid that people wouldn’t see us as her own, and that brought with it a deep shame, even though it shouldn’t be that way. It was not intentional – and it remained that way throughout life, until this trial.”
Dilly tearfully revealed: ‘I can’t have any more children, so now I’m hopefully going to come full circle and adopt myself.’
Dilly, who has starred in the hit show since episode one, revealed in April 2023 that she was diagnosed with uterine cancer before undergoing a radical hysterectomy.
During the latest episode of Sort Your Life Out, Dilly explained that although she has daughter Nelly, ten, she has been unable to have children since her surgery and is now planning to adopt.
Dilly has shared her cancer journey with her Instagram followers and in August 2023, she revealed that she had completed her treatment
Earlier this year, Dilly admitted her life was changed forever after treatment for uterine cancer.
She posted an emotional Instagram post to mark World Cancer Day, explaining: ‘Cancer has changed my life forever. It changes the lives of an entire family forever. Not only has it taken away my ability to have children again, it has also forever affected my daily life, from the way I eat to the amount of time I can spend on my feet.
‘The scars and the daily side effects are just the physical reminders. The mental effects will stay with you forever.”
“No matter how many times you try to ignore it and move on. You will carry that weight with you forever. What it hasn’t done, however, is take my life.
‘I am eternally grateful to the surgeons and doctors who operated for five and a half hours to stop the spread of the cancer by removing it.’
However, survivor’s guilt also plays a major role in living with cancer, especially when so many around you are losing their lives.”
Dilly is adopted and explains to Sarah and Katherine, the adoptive daughters featured in the last episode of Sort Your Life Out, how having her own child had meant so much to her.
Dilly continued to work on Sort Your Life Out during her cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Taking to Instagram after series three of Sort Your Life Out aired last year, Dilly explained that this had been “my most difficult series yet, as I filmed after my recovery from two major operations and their unexpected complications, and then during my irradiation.’
‘Which has been incredibly tough the last two weeks. I could hardly work because of the side effects, but I did it.
“I wanted to keep going, I had to keep going and focus on the work to get through it.
‘So I’ve done as much as I can, but not without the support of some fantastic people.’
Dilly has continued to work on Sort Your Life Out during her cancer treatment and spoke about her health during an emotional conversation with Stacey in episode one of series four.
The episode was the first Dilly filmed since her surgery and she admitted it was difficult for her to sort through family memories
Dilly received support from Stacey in the first episode of series four of Sort Your Life Out as the team helped Craig and his two young children after their mother died of cancer. The episode was the first Dilly filmed since her surgery.
Dilly admitted that it was difficult for her to sort through the family memories, prompting Stacey to tell her: ‘You can say, ‘Stace, I can’t actually cope with this, it’s very difficult,’ and we’ll just go out and get away from it. for a moment, because it’s difficult.’
Tearfully, Dilly admitted to her friend, “I always knew it was going to be a tough week for me, but I think it’s also a beautiful thing to be part of this process and help them.”
“You’re strong for everyone and you put yourself out there to do for everyone, but I don’t think you think about yourself very often,” Stacey told her. “And how hard it might be for you.”
‘We think so, don’t we? We all find a little strength within ourselves sometimes,” Dilly told her. “Some of us like it more than others and you have it in abundance,” Stacey insisted.