In a deeply personal and unexpected health update, beloved reality television star Joe Amabile has revealed that he is facing a significant medical battle. The 40-year-old Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelorette alum shared on Instagram that doctors recently discovered a “blueberry-sized lesion” in his brain that appears to be an early-stage brain tumor.
Amabile, affectionately known to fans as “Grocery Store Joe,” explained that the lesion was initially flagged during a preventative full-body Prenuvo scan. After the scan showed something anomalous, he was sent for a follow-up brain MRI, which confirmed the presence of the mass.
“There was a blueberry-sized lesion in my brain that looks to be a glioma, which is a tumor,” Amabile shared in an emotional video message on Monday, July 13, 2026. “So I now need to get brain surgery… to get it removed and get it tested, and then we’re going to go from there. It’s been a wild couple of weeks. I definitely wasn’t expecting this.”
To treat the tumor, Amabile is scheduled to undergo a craniotomy in late July 2026 at the prestigious Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Despite the frightening nature of the diagnosis, the reality star is focusing on the silver linings and maintaining an incredibly positive outlook. Doctors have assured him that because the mass was caught so early, they are highly optimistic about his prognosis.
“I’m doing my best to stay positive during this time and am lucky to have a lot of support from family and friends,” he wrote in his caption, which immediately drew a massive wave of love and encouragement from fellow Bachelor Nation stars and fans. Amabile, who married his Bachelor in Paradise co-star Serena Pitt in 2023, promised to keep his community updated on his journey toward recovery.
