Snooki 'overwhelmed with love' following cancer diagnosis

Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi is feeling "overwhelmed with love" after announcing her cancer diagnosis.

The former Jersey Shore star announced on TikTok on Friday that she had been diagnosed with stage I cervical cancer.

The 38-year-old returned to social media on Sunday to thank her fans for their outpouring of love and support.

"So overwhelmed with all the love you guys have given me (crying emoji) appreciate you!! Now go book ya exams!" she wrote on Instagram alongside a selfie with her dog.

She also shared a new TikTok video in which she made a heart with her hands, blew kisses, and mouthed, "I love you."

"Seeing all the love you guys have shown me means THE WORLD to me," she captioned the post. "Thanks for being my besties 4ever (sic)," adding crying, love heart and praying emojis.

In her original video on Friday, Snooki encouraged her followers to get an annual Pap smear, also known as a cervical screening, as she caught the disease "so early".

"That's why I'm literally telling you guys to get your Pap smears done. I'm 38 years old. I've been struggling with abnormal Pap smears for like, three, four years now," she said. "And now look at me, and instead of just, like, putting it off because I didn't want to go, and it hurt and I was scared, no, I just went and did it, (and) cancer's in there, and it's only stage I and it's curable."

Snooki explained that she had already undergone a colposcopy after receiving abnormal smear results and a cone biopsy to remove a piece of tissue from her cervix to confirm her diagnosis.

She shared that she had a PET scan scheduled to see if the cancer had spread, and would probably opt for a hysterectomy, a procedure to remove the uterus, after that.

"The oncologist said you can either do chemo, radiation or the hysterectomy," she continued. "Obviously, I think the smart choice here is the hysterectomy. I'll still keep my ovaries, which is a good sign, but (I) got to get the cervix and the uterus out and then possibly lymph nodes, because it can (spread there). So I guess it all depends on the PET scan."

Snooki shares three children with her husband Jionni LaValle.