Kellie Finlayson has revealed she is currently dealing with liver failure while continuing treatment for terminal bowel cancer.
The 30-year-old Australian, who is married to former Port Adelaide footballer Jeremy Finlayson, disclosed the worrying development during an Instagram question-and-answer session.
Asked how her treatment was progressing, she replied: “I don’t think anything is ever going as to plan as anyone would let you believe, but I’m ‘OK’ in medical terms right now besides my liver playing funny buggers (failing) lol.”
Finlayson had briefly referred to the issue in a temporary Instagram story the previous week, before addressing it again during the question-and-answer session.
She later appeared in an advertisement filmed at the family home in Adelaide, where she spoke of having endured a difficult period.
“Let me tell you, I have had a week already… it has been a slog for the last couple of weeks actually, but we push through,” she said while preparing dinner.
Kellie Finlayson’s cancer treatment
Finlayson was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in 2021, three months after giving birth to her daughter, Sophia Jai. The disease later spread to her lungs, and her treatment has focused on keeping it stable while preserving her quality of life.
She underwent a wedge resection on her left lung in June to remove active and inactive tumours, following an earlier operation on her right lung. She has also endured more than 80 rounds of chemotherapy since her diagnosis.
Her symptoms had initially been attributed to changes following childbirth. Doctors first told her she had stage three bowel cancer, but further scans showed within 24 hours that it had spread to her lungs and was stage four.
The latest update came shortly after Finlayson returned from a family trip to Disneyland in California with Jeremy and Sophia. She shared photographs and videos from the holiday, describing it as a childhood dream and writing that she was “literally pinching myself that we’re here”.
Finlayson has spoken openly about her illness and the impact it has had on her family. She documented her diagnosis, treatment, marriage and motherhood in her 2025 memoir, There Must Be More, and is an ambassador for the Jodi Lee Foundation’s Trust Your Gut campaign.
In a recent interview, she said she had experienced bowel and abdominal symptoms for years before her diagnosis at the age of 25, but had found them easy to dismiss because they appeared similar to menstrual or postnatal problems.
Finlayson and Jeremy married in 2023 after postponing their wedding while she underwent treatment. The couple have continued to raise awareness of bowel cancer while sharing aspects of their family life online.
