The 41-year-old co-host of Seven’s Sunrise shared her personal health update on Friday morning, just after reading the 8am news bulletin.

“I have been diagnosed with cancer,” she told viewers.

“That’s a shock to say and hard to say. It is a really good kind. It is called chronic myeloid leukaemia.”

Bartholomew choked back tears as she shared more details.

“It can be treated with a daily tablet. If I can take care of myself I will be completely fine,” she said.

Bartholomew, who has Molly, 4, and two-year-old Thomas with husband Neil Varcoe, said she was diagnosed in July. She kept her illness private, until deciding to go public on Friday for “a couple of reasons”.

“Firstly, because everyone at home and here has been here for all the wonderful times, for the engagements, and the weddings and the babies, for all of us. It felt right to share this with you too,” she said.

“Many of you have been in similar situations or much, much worse and come out the other side stronger… And more resilient. That’s exactly what I plan to do.”

The second reason was to do with how her cancer was detected.

“After I turned 40 I made the decision to prioritise my health. I got a skin check after Nat had her scare,” she said, referring to co-host Natalie Barr’s own revelation earlier this year that she had skin cancer.

“I had a mammogram after I had a few lumps – that came back all clear. I even had an eye check – that’s fine. But my doctor sent me to get routine blood tests at the same time. One of those tests came back with levels out of whack.”

Bartholomew said she’d had no symptoms.

“The doctor called that night to check if I was OK. I said I had a little cold but was otherwise fine. She suggested I come in the next day when all my results were back. It was a sleepless night,” she said in a later statement.

“Later that morning, the doctor called to say I should bring someone with me to the appointment. Not a good sign. By Thursday, I was having a bone marrow biopsy and by Saturday, I had started treatment.

“It has been an absolute whirlwind.”

After her announcement, Bartholomew was embraced in an emotional group hug by Barr and fellow co-hosts Matt Shirvington and Mark Beretta.

In her later statement, Bartholomew said she had gone public on her own terms because she didn’t want an interview “and I didn’t want a sad photo of me here”.

“It was important to me to tell you my story because I suspect there are quite a few people out there suffering from a not-so-healthy dose of benign neglect, particularly mums like me. We often take care of everyone else in our family and forget to put on our own oxygen mask first,” she said.

She ended by saying she’d be seen on TV a bit less often.

“What is clear from the past few months is that I need to dramatically change things,” she said.

“You will still see me on Sunrise but not all the time. I’m going to take a break for a few weeks and then come back to the studio just a few days a week.”

The Leukaemia Foundation says CML is a slow-progressing blood-cell cancer that begins in bone marrow. Symptoms can include anaemia, persistent tiredness, dizziness, paleness, infections becoming more frequent and taking longer to heal.

It is considered rare, accounting for just 0.03 per cent of all cancers diagnosed. CML can occur at any age but is more common in adults over the age of 40, particularly men.

– TND