'BBWLA' Star Brandi Maxiell Sheds Light On Battling And Beating Ovarian Cancer, And Her Infertility Issues, After Divorce Rumors; Did Maxiell Forgive Sundy Carter For Her Comments Earlier This Year?

In honor of spreading more awareness to women out there, about ovarian cancer, Basketball Wives LA star Brandi Maxiell is speaking out about her experience and life after surviving cancer.

In a new interview with Madame Noire, the reality star, and mother revealed how she found out that she would have to battle cancer.

Maxiell was 24 when she was diagnosed with cancer and struggled as her health and body went through ups and downs.  Maxiell has been cancer free since 2008 but struggled with the thing she wanted most; a child. Fans of the show witnessed an emotional Maxiell as she shared her journey, finally producing her son, in 2011 but now Brandi is facing infertility issues.

Maxiell who is now 30, is a National Ovarian Cancer Coalition spokesperson and is here to share her story.

Maxiell described how her day was when she found out she had ovarian cancer.

"I was 24 and I was stage 1C, I believe." she said. "I was devastated because it was something that I…I was healthy. I’m healthy. My family’s healthy, everybody’s healthy so it was something that was new to me. It was kind of like I was in a movie. ‘Are you serious right now? Cancer? Not me!’ It just didn’t really hit me or register. I just really thought it wasn’t true."

She continued, "I had got engaged and I wanted to stay with my husband for a year, live with him and see how things were and all these things. But I started planning my wedding after I got cancer because it was like, let’s just do this thing. Let’s get married. It was kind of like one of those things where we were like, what are we waiting on?"

The mother of one revealed that she knew something was wrong, because she had pains and symptoms.

"I had every symptom. I had back pains and I went to the doctor and they told me it was just back pains, so they gave me medicine for it. But after I was taking the medicine for it I was like, my back still hurts. My stomach? I was bloated. It looked like I was four or five months pregnant. I was huge! I had to use the bathroom like every five seconds. Sometimes I wouldn’t even make it to the bathroom. I would have to pee and then I would pee in the bed and be so embarrassed because my fiancée, my husband now, was like ‘This is embarrassing.’ It was just crazy. I was like, ‘what’s going on inside of my body?’"

Maxiell revealed what she did next after finding out she had cancer.

"When I got the news, I knew my blood levels were crazy so I did every research possible, but they knew it was cancer. They just didn’t know what stage I was in. For like a week after I got the news I was in fear for my life because they knew something was wrong and they had to do immediate surgery. I literally thought–you know when you think of cancer, you think of death. I was thinking, ‘what the hell did I do with my life to deserve this? What’s going on? What are you telling me? What are you asking me? What do you need?’ Because it was like, how did I get this? I didn’t know if it spread or if it did anything until I got the surgery."

The BBWLA star said, "I remember my mom telling me that she was praying really hard. She said ‘I spoke to God and he wanted me to know that everything is going to be okay. He’s going to let you know that everything’s okay.’ I remember having that surgery and my mom wrote in her journal, she said, ‘when you came out of surgery the first thing you said was, Mom I spoke to God and he let me know that everything was okay.’ And I was like, ‘that’s crazy! I didn’t say that.’ I do remember feeling like everything was okay, but I went into surgery so tensed up so scared for my life."

After learning that she was finally cancer free Maxiell said, "I knew that I was going to overcome the cancer. When I was done with it we had a party. We all went out and hung out and I probably shouldn’t of done it, but I went crazy. I let my hair–well, I didn’t have no hair [laughs]. But I was free. It was just a freeing moment. I was just so happy and felt like I could live my life. I feel like when I have something going on in my life I dedicate my time and my energy to just that. And I felt like I dedicated a lot of energy to the cancer so I could get well, so it was such a struggle. I was so weak. I could barely get out of bed. I could barely eat. But when they said I was done, I think that was the happiest that I’ve ever been in my entire life."

When it comes to giving advice to women who are having a hard time with infertility, due to cancer or not Maxiell tells them,

"I would say to hang in there. I know the struggle. I’m still dealing with it because I want a second child, but I postponed that. But dealing with the whole issue and not knowing, you worry. But the more that you worry, the more that you let stuff get to you, the more that you let things bother you, that’s a health risk in itself. You have to be careful and have positive energy or it all will really wear on your body. And for any woman who can’t get pregnant whether they have cancer or not, there are other options. Of course I want my second child, but I’m so blessed that I have my first baby. So if my doctor says that I can’t have my second child biologically, I can adopt. There are other options."

When asked did Maxiell forgive her co-star Sundy Carter for the hurtful comments she said during the show Maxiell revealed, "I don’t think about Sundy. There’s nothing to think about. I don’t even want to talk about her. There’s nothing to…I mean, I let go of everything."

SEE RELATED STORIES:

Brandi Maxiell addresses the Sundy Carter comment via Instagram [ PHOTO ]

Although Maxiell's husband stayed by her side during her hard time, it seems that they are also dealing with a bumpy road, as reports declare that the two are getting a divorce, Maxiell says her mom was the biggest help.

"My mom was my biggest supporter. My husband, who was my fiance at the time, was a big supporter. But my mom suffered from that situation probably more than I did. Watching her, I thought I really needed to get well for her. To sit and watch my mom in so much pain, it was just heartbreaking. No mother should have to see their child go through what I went through–not knowing what was going to happen or the future. When I was cancer free, so was she."

Now Maxiell says her journey changed her for the better. She said, "It changed me because it taught me to live life to the fullest and live every day like it’s your last. You never know what tomorrow will bring. You never know what can be taken from you and I think a lot of people take that for granted."