Harvey Price’s health issues as mum Katie confirms he’ll start weight-loss jabs

Katie Price has revealed her son Harvey is finally set to begin weight-loss treatment after years of fears over the potentially devastating impact of his size on his health.

The former glamour model, 48, confirmed Harvey, 24, will start taking Mounjaro, having previously made increasingly desperate pleas for doctors to help him lose weight.

Harvey lives with the rare genetic condition Prader-Willi syndrome, as well as autism and sight impairment, and Katie has previously revealed his weight had climbed to almost 30 stone.

Now, speaking on the latest episode of The Katie Price Show podcast, the mum-of-five told sister Sophie that the treatment she has been pushing for is finally going ahead.

‘Harvey is starting the Mounjaro,’ she announced.

Sophie replied: ‘Yeah, I think that will really help him because he’s struggling at the minute.’

For Katie, the news comes after a lengthy battle to find an intervention she believes could dramatically improve her eldest son’s quality of life.

‘It’s taken so long but he’s starting [the jabs],’ she said.

‘I can’t wait. Then he can do the rollercoasters, he can do more, walk more and have more energy.’

Katie also claimed Harvey’s BMI is currently 59, saying: ‘So he needs it for his health. This isn’t for looks, it’s for a better quality of life for him.’

Although sometimes nicknamed a ‘weight-loss jab’, Mounjaro is the brand name for tirzepatide and is administered by injection rather than taken as a pill.

In the UK, it can be prescribed for weight management to eligible adults alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.

The glamour model shares Harvey with former footballer Dwight Yorke, who initially denied paternity of him.

The update is particularly significant given just how worried Katie has become about Harvey’s health over the past few years.

Prader-Willi syndrome is a rare genetic condition that can cause a range of physical, behavioural and learning difficulties.

One of its major characteristics is an excessive appetite, which can make weight management extremely difficult and lead to dangerous obesity without careful management.

Harvey’s health needs are complex beyond his weight.

Harvey is also autistic and is partially blind due to septo-optic dysplasia, a rare condition affecting early brain and eye development which has left him partially blind.

Katie has cared for Harvey throughout his life and has frequently spoken about the additional support he requires, as well as the difficult decisions she has had to make as he has grown older.

In 2020, she discussed placing him into residential care after admitting she could no longer meet all of his increasingly complex needs at home.

However, it is his weight that has become one of Katie’s biggest concerns in recent years.

Last year, she revealed Harvey had reached 188kg – around 29st 8lbs – and admitted watching the number continue to climb ‘breaks my heart’.

‘It’s so sad his quality of life at the moment, where he’s so big, he just can’t really do much,’ she said at the time.

Katie explained that even everyday activities had become increasingly difficult for him, saying he struggled to put on his trainers or walk significant distances.

She also revealed doctors had previously warned that his weight could put him at increased risk of serious cardiovascular problems.

Those fears appeared to reach a new level earlier this year when Katie described listening to Harvey as he slept and becoming frightened by his breathing.

‘I’m actually going to put some up on Instagram to say, “Is there any private doctors out there?” because the NHS are so – I’m not slagging the NHS off, but they know he’s in the obese category,’ she said on her podcast in March.

‘When he sleeps, I worry because he’s snoring and wheezing.’

Katie claimed Harvey would sometimes appear to hold his breath while sleeping and said she feared what could happen without medical intervention.

‘They’ve already told me years ago that if you don’t lose weight, he’s prone to a heart attack,’ she said.

‘I just feel so bad, so I’m going to have to do something.’

At the time, Katie stressed that despite desperately wanting Harvey to begin Mounjaro, she would never simply administer the medication to him without appropriate medical supervision.

‘I mean, I’m not going to inject him myself because that’s not medically right to do for him,’ she explained. ‘But something needs to be done.’

She subsequently took the unusual step of publicly appealing for medical help.

Sharing a clip from the podcast on Instagram, Katie wrote: ‘NHS are not helping if thetes [sic] any private doctors who any one know please DM me I cant lose Harvey.’

Her latest announcement suggests that, five months later, the treatment she had been pushing for has now been approved, although Katie did not give further details about who will oversee Harvey’s treatment or when exactly he will receive his first dose.

The star’s hope isn’t simply that the medication will bring the number on the scales down.

Instead, she said she wants weight loss to give Harvey greater independence and allow him to enjoy activities currently made difficult or impossible by his size – including going on rollercoasters.

Harvey has recently been enjoying a summer holiday in Ibiza with his mum, where the pair visited Wayne Lineker’s O Beach club.

The 64-year-old club owner later praised Katie after watching her care for her son throughout their visit, revealing she had repeatedly made sure Harvey was comfortable in the heat and even arranged for the chef to make his favourite carbonara despite it not being on the menu.

He also described the moment clubgoers began chanting Harvey’s name as one of the ‘most special’ things he had witnessed.

Katie has spent much of Harvey’s life publicly campaigning around disability and the challenges faced by families caring for disabled children and adults.

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