Katie Price broke down in floods of tears on ‘Loose Women’ on Tuesday (12.12.17) when she discussed her mother’s terminal illness.
The 39-year-old former glamour model sobbed during her appearance on the ITV chat show as she discussed Amy Price’s battle with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) – a build up of scar tissue on the lungs that causes the organs to stiffen make it difficult for the sufferer to inhale oxygen – because she knows her parent is getting progressively "worse" as time goes on, and Katie is struggling to come to terms with the fact her mother is "going to die" sooner rather than later.
She said: "IPF isn’t well known and there should be more awareness because once you’re diagnosed, it’s too late. It’s an incurable lung disease – no one knows how you get it.
"The thing is my mum is going to die, I just don’t want her to die.
Fellow panellist Ruth Langsford gave her a hug as Katie added: "She’s getting worse, she’s having to sell her house now because she can’t get up. Yeah my mum had a cough for about five years, they thought it was asthma, then a few months ago she had a cold. How can my mum die?"
Katie announced earlier this year Amy was diagnosed with the illness, and though she has put on a brave front over recent months she has admitted she cannot do that anymore and had to avoid visiting Amy for a "few weeks" because she couldn’t bear the thought she will never see her mother grow old.
Katie – who has Harvey, 15, Junior, 12, Princess, 10, Jett, four, and Bunny, three – explained: "But the thing is I couldn’t see her for a few weeks and she didn’t understand why and I just said because I can’t bear seeing you knowing I’m not going to see you grow old."
And Katie can’t believe this Christmas may be her "last" festive celebration with her mother, and she can’t stand the thought that Amy may not live to celebrate her son Harvey’s 18th birthday in three years time.
She sobbed: "It might be my last Christmas with her. She’s so healthy, never smoked, she works out all the time. I just want to raise awareness and I said I’d do the London marathon. You won’t see Harvey’s 18th birthday, all the kids … how can my mum die?"
The reality of Amy’s condition dawned on Katie when she read the news that Keith Chegwin – who shared the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house with her in 2015 – had died on Monday (11.12.17) following a long-term battle with the progressive lung condition.
Katie revealed that her friend Keith had been in touch when he discovered that her mother Amy had been diagnosed with the same illness to offer support to the family.
Katie said: "Keith got in touch and we’d been speaking to him a lot and he was trying to help my mum. I knew all along about Keith but I never said it to anyone and I can’t believe that within six months he’s gone."
And it all got too much for Katie, who asked if she could leave the lunchtime programme because she was too overwhelmed, and Ruth whisked her away off the set.
She said: "I love my mum so much … I can’t do this, can I go?"
Katie has since taken to social media to gush about Amy and her "love loyalty".
Katie Price breaks down discussing mother’s terminal illness
