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- Sam Vanderpump reveals fears of not meeting his baby after end-stage liver disease diagnosis
- The reality star has been hospitalised due to severe health issues and is awaiting a liver transplant
- Sam and fiancée Alice plan for their future while addressing public reactions to his condition
Made In Chelsea star Sam Vanderpump has opened up about his fears of never meeting his unborn baby after his end-stage liver disease diagnosis.
The 28-year-old was hospitalised with kidney and liver failure, which led to life-threatening sepsis in December last year due to a genetic liver disease.
At the end of October, the reality star, who is the nephew of Vanderpump Rules and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Vanderpump, revealed on his long-running E4 reality series that he’s been given a handful of years to live unless he receives a transplant
The news came just weeks after he announced he was expecting his first child with his fiancée, model Alice Yaxley, 24.
Now, he has spoken about how his health struggle has coloured his journey as a father-to-be.
Appearing on Paul C. Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, he reflected on how his feelings about his own late father never meeting his grandchild have influenced his own thoughts.
He tearfully explained: ‘I always get sad when I think my dad’s never going to see his grandchild.
‘To now start having that thing dawned on you: “Am I going to see my child?” That’s terrifying.’
His grief over his father, Mark’s, death in May 2018 has become interwoven with his difficult health journey, he shared, saying that ‘when you have trauma you block it out, right?’
Recalling the ‘heartstopping’ moment he found out he had been referred for a liver transplant assessment, he said: ‘I get a letter after every appointment. I open it up, and it’s literally a four-line letter.
What is end-stage liver disease?
End-stage liver disease (ESLD) is the final stage of liver damage, where the liver is so scarred and damaged that it can no longer function properly.
This irreversible condition is the result of chronic liver diseases, such as advanced cirrhosis or acute liver failure.
Symptoms include fatigue, jaundice, swelling, confusion, and abdominal pain, and treatment may involve a liver transplant if the liver function is severely compromised.
To find out more about end-stage liver disease on the NHS website, click here.
‘And it goes “Dear Sam, after reviewing your latest CT scan, these are in line with your condition, we’re sending you for a liver transplant assessment”.
‘I mean, that was, yeah, receiving that, I think your heart stops, your tummy drops. Yeah. Fear. Yeah. Terrified, “am I going to die?”.’
Earlier this month, Sam shared that after reading the statistics, which gave a ‘fifty-fifty’ chance of survival after the age of 53, he spoke about future planning with his wife-to-be.
The West London couple, who plan to call their son Marmaduke (Duke for short), have installed a sofa-bed in their new home so people can stay over to support Alice if Sam is unwell.
They are also planning to tie the knot this December in an intimate registry office ceremony before the big blowout wedding in the summer of 2027.
The TV star has had to field plenty of fan reaction – the supportive and the not-so supportive – since he went public with his diagnosis.
Last week, he shut down hurtful comments claiming he was ‘milking’ the attention from revealing his diagnosis.
He wrote at the time: ‘I didn’t say I had four to five years to live. What the doctors said to me was, “Your liver won’t make it four to five more years, that’s why we need to do an organ transplant.”
‘Believe it or not, I don’t think the NHS go around giving liver transplants for the fun of it. It’s not an ideal operation.’
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