Drag Race Down Under star Maxi Shield has shared a health update with fans, clarifying that a health scare that hospitalised her during the Edinburgh Fringe has been diagnosed as a cancerous growth.
The Drag Race Down Under darling, who appeared on the first season of the Australia and New Zealand-based spinoff in 2021, was forced to pull out of her Edinburgh Fringe performances with season one sister Art Simone in comedy show Fountain Lakes In Lockdown: A Drag Parody Play.
At the time, she shared with fans that a swollen gland had been pushing against blood vessels in her throat.
Now, in a separate update issued to her followers via the 51-year-olds social media profiles, Maxi confirmed that the growth “is cancerous”, but has a good recovery rate.
“I had tests yesterday, and [saw] specialists today,” Maxi said in a post 2 September. “This little swollen thing on the side of my throat is cancer.”
“They’re working out a plan for me at this stage, I’m going to the hospital this afternoon, I’m going to have lots of steroids, so hopefully they work.
“They’re just worried that my throat is swelling, so hopefully we’ll get that down as well the size of the tumour down a little bit.
“And then I’m going to go on chemotherapy for three weeks, and then a mixture of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for seven weeks.”
The Drag Race star added: “A little bit crazy, but there’s 80% chance that this is all going to be fantastic and I’m going to be high kicking and back flipping like I never used to do.”
“The love is incredible,” Maxi, real name Kristopher Elliot, continued. “Thank you so much.”
In the post’s caption, the Sydney-based drag legend wrote: “I’m a tough old bird that will get through this like many are now and before me.”
She has been flooded with well-wishes from Drag Race contemporaries and fans alike. A fundraiser started on behalf of the drag performer has raised over $20,000.
Maxi’s show, a spoof of popular Australian sitcom Kath & Kim, resumes at the Wyndham Cultural Centre in Werribee in Australia, with Maxi, before stopping for several weeks in Melbourne for a Christmas version.
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