Andrea’s health horror
The Loose Women panel were left reeling when one of them admitted why she avoids her GP…
Alot of us put off going to see the doctor, and Andrea McLean, 48, has revealed she’s avoiding that trip, too, in case her GP tells her something she doesn’t want to hear.
The TV star dropped a bombshell recently, confessing that – two years ago, while having her hysterectomy – she discovered that she suffers from vasculitis.
It’s a rare disease, but it can be life-threatening. Simply put, the body’s immune system attacks healthy blood vessels, leading to inflammation that can be fatal.
During a Loose Women debate about delaying going to the GP, Andrea shocked the panel by revealing she can’t face booking an appointment for tests after finding out she has the condition.
She admitted, ‘ When I had my hysterectomy, they found out that I had vasculitis. I’m meant to be tested every year, and I don’t want to.’
Always very maternal towards her fellow panellists on the ITV chat show, a worried-looking Linda Robson, 59, asked Andrea, ‘Have you still not been?’
To which the sheepishlooking TV host replied, ‘No, I don’t want to! Everything is really nice now – what if they tell me something awful?’
Her colleagues were shocked to find out that not only had she not been to this appointment – she hadn’t been to any of the yearly appointments she was meant to attend.
Practical Linda pointed out that doctors could get a hold on her condition before it became ‘too dangerous’, but Andrea argued again, ‘ What if it spoils everything?’
Former best columnist Coleen Nolan, 52, was gobsmacked at her friend’s rather head-in-the-sand approach, saying, ‘ You have the rest of your life to be nice, instead of [maybe only] a small period of time because you left it too late.’
But Andrea joked, ‘I know, I know! Sometimes I hate this show, because I get told off!’
But perhaps she shouldn’t really laugh off the concerns of her fellow panellists.
We get that she’s loving life right now, having married partner Nick Feeney last November (when she gushed, ‘My broken heart is not only fixed, it’s filled to bursting’).
But not attending follow-up sessions when you’ve been diagnosed with a potentially fatal condition… is that not verging on reckless behaviour?
As Dr Ellie Cannon explains, ‘ Vasculitis can cause a huge range of symptoms from mild pain to full-blown kidney disease, joint damage and heart trouble. Andrea could be suffering with any of the different types of vasculitis, but she could be facing a ticking time bomb if it’s one of the more serious ones.’
We all hope Andrea’s happiness continues, but we agree that she should heed her Loose Women pals and make that scary trip to the doctor…
‘Everything is really nice now – what if they tell me something awful?’