TV and radio star Sile Seoige has revealed she’s been secretly battling thyroid cancer for the past six months.

The gorgeous presenter has spoken out for the first time to reveal she received the shock diagnosis last September from her doctor.

“He said: ‘There is no other way to say this — you have thyroid cancer, we need to go right in and take the whole gland out’,” Sile (32) said.

The Newstalk presenter spoke out to explain her absence from the airwaves. “There has been speculation for some time as to why I have been keeping a low profile and there have been reports that have been untrue — it has nothing to do with my career, but everything to do with my health,” she said.

“Which is why I’ve made the decision to finally talk about it.” She admitted she was in shock when she received the diagnosis. “Hearing that word chills you to the core... .but what I would say is if you're worried about anything, get it checked, follow your gut, talk to somebody, just don't be afraid to discuss it," she said.

Sile was treated in St Vincent's Hospital and at the Blackrock clinic where she spent a week in an isolation ward and was dosed with radioactive iodine. And she said her partner Kim Burrowes was very supportive. “He has been incredible, just absolutely brilliant,” she said.

Her sister Grainne was also a tower of strength. "She is one of the people I think of first because she knows me so well, she knows instinctively what to do - and that's the thing with my family and friends, my relationships have become all the more real and more genuine since it happened," she explained. "If anything, it has been a bizarre blessing because it makes you realise what is really important in life."

And brave Sile insists she is "very confident about the future". "I am on medication for the rest of my life and while I'm back at work and love it, it will taken some time before I'm fully recovered. In my heart and soul I believe I will beat this," she said.

Image: Twitter.