KARL’S SURGERY CRISIS
He’s been snapped enjoying long lunches with his friends and days at the beach with his much-younger girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough during their festive break on the Gold Coast.
But it seems there was a more serious task on the agenda for Karl Stefanovic during his extended Queensland stay – treatment on what’s believed to be a seriously worrying skin cancer spot on his right arm.
Sources tell New Idea that the Today host was accompanied by Jasmine, 33, and her family for the nerve-racking therapy with renowned Gold Coast physician Dr Portia Millar, who closed down her clinic for her famous client.
It’s believed the surgery’s blinds were closed and the doors locked while Karl, 43, underwent treatment – emerging an hour later with his right arm in a bandage.
The new crisis comes just months after it was revealed that the TV star had undergone a biopsy on a possible melanoma on his left arm.
‘I am not going to hide the fact that Karl is worried. This is no walk in the park, I assure you,’ a friend of the star revealed at the time.
‘Skin cancer is nasty, especially if it spreads. Right now we do not know what we are dealing with, and for Karl that’s extremely worrying.
‘There is a lot at stake here. Skin cancer is a big killer in Australia. This is not good.’
Now with a second health scare in his life, it seems Karl has turned to Dr Millar for treatment. According to the dermatologist’s website, she offers ‘a broad range of services, including skin cancer checks and has developed interests in non-surgical management of solar damage’.
As well as offering treatments that remove sun spots – including gentle cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen, photo dynamic therapy and laser ablation – Dr Millar’s clinic also specialises in non-surgical treatment of skin cancer. Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT), Dr Millar’s website states, is ‘a highly effective, quick, nonsurgical way of treating superficial skin cancers’, while ‘Erbium laser is an alternative treatment for cancers that are not amenable to surgery.’
While it’s unclear what Karl had specifically treated and why, it’s clear that it was important to have a heavy support network
around him for the visit, with his girlfriend of one year Jasmine and members of her family close by for the procedure.
It’s even believed that his health scare could be the reason behind his extended break from Today, with the star not due back on air until January 22.
‘It’s been a pretty full-on 12 months for Karl, but having Jasmine by his side has made it all the better,’ says a source close to the star.
An Australian Government report on skin cancer in Australia reveals: ‘Melanoma is responsible for the highest number of deaths from skin cancer in Australia.’
Sunsmart also reports that: ‘Melanoma can grow quickly. It can become life-threatening in as little as six weeks and, if untreated, it can spread to other parts of the body.’