Former Home and Away star opens up about her fight with cancer

She is expecting her first child with husband Nate Myles after bravely beating cancer.

And Tessa James, 26, has opened up about how surviving Hodgkin's lymphoma changed her life, revealing it made her place greater emphasis on good health. 

'Sometimes you don’t realise how important it is until you come face to face with a situation like mine,' she wrote on Instagram on Friday. 

The former Home and Away star was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, beating the disease after a gruelling regime of chemotherapy.

In August, Tessa confirmed she was expecting her first child and is expected to give birth in late 2017. 

Taking to Instagram on Friday, the expectant mum revealed she was now more than ever thankful for her good health.

'Today and everyday, I am so grateful for my health,' Tessa told her 101,000 Instagram followers.

'Like everyone, I have my off days and that is very normal but over the past few years I have put such an important focus on both my physical and mental health since overcoming Cancer. 

'Sometimes you don’t realise how important it is until you come face to face with a situation like mine (and many other life threatening diseases).' 

Tessa previously revealed she had struggled to come to terms with her cancer diagnosis. 

'I hit a point where I didn't know what I was doing, why I was here, what was happening, where my life was going,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2016. 

'I thought I knew. I was 23, and all this bad stuff was happening. I tried to spiritually find why. I got through it because I had to get through it.

'What was the other option? To sit and feel sorry for myself? I think I had to hit that low point, to be in so much pain and so upset and so traumatised, to then have that sense of empowerment again: I can get through this.' 

This article was first published on dailymail.co.uk and is republished here with permission.