As model and "Dancing with the Stars" cohost Brooke Burke prepared to undergo surgery for thyroid cancer Wednesday, she tried to focus on her family and healing.
On Nov. 8, Burke first revealed she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and planned to have a thyroidectomy.
"I've booked my surgery," she said in a YouTube video. "It's taken me a couple of months to really wrap my head around this ... Now I'm good. I'm ready to deal with it, and I'm going to be fine. I feel really, really strong. Doctors say this is a 'good' kind of cancer to have ... My doctor did tell me this is a happily ever after ending kind of thing."
The mother of four has been sharing the personal experience with fans via her Modern Mom blog. On Wednesday, the day of her surgery, Burke revealed how she told her kids she had cancer.
"I decided not to tell my children about my diagnosis for as long as I possibly could because I didn't want them to worry," she wrote in a blog post. "I know that my younger ones still don't have a great concept of time and I didn't want them to be anxious, worried and asking 1,000 questions."
When Burke finally decided it was time to have the conversation, she told her 12-year-old daughter first.
"She was really scared and concerned. She cried, and her biggest fear was if I was going to be ok," Burke explained. "She asked me to promise, promise, promise her that nothing would happen to me, which I did."
Burke has four children -- daughters Neriah, 12, Sierra, 10, and Rain, 5, and son Shaya, 4. Neriah and Sierra are from her previous marriage to plastic surgeon Garth Fisher. Rain and Shaya are from her current marriage to "Baywatch" star David Charvet.
Burke said her family gives her strength.
"I'm not afraid anymore. I think I've been dealing with it so much the past couple months that now I'm ready to just get it done and put this behind me," she told Us Weekly. "My only need is being ok for my husband and my children so they don't have to go through any pain and making this as easy as possible for them."
On Monday, Burke thanked her fans for their support in a Facebook post: "I am touched and appreciative to all of you for sharing your positive wishes for my surgery, and for sharing many of your personal thyroid experiences. I really do read your comments and they all mean a lot to me. I’m getting ready this week for my surgery and am planning on a speedy recovery."
The "Dancing with the Stars" cohost said she was resting following her surgery. On Thursday, she tweeted: