Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Katie: I may have to put Harvey into care
Disabled son, 16, ‘smashed up 8 ipads’
KATIE Price is considering putting disabled son Harvey into residential care because she finds it increasingly difficult to handle him.
The mother of five said the 16-year-old smashed eight ipads last year and scared her other children.
Former glamour model Katie appeared with Harvey on BBC2’S Victoria Derbyshire programme yesterday.
Katie said: “For the first time ever I’m thinking he might have to go residential, Monday to Friday. He’s missing out on his education, he wants to be with me all the time.
“It’s so hard. I’ve never had respite, I do it all myself. But I’m really having to think about it. I’ve got to do what’s best for him. When he’s smashing things and the kids are scared because he’s big, he’ll chase them and stuff, I’ve just got to do it for him.”
Harvey, whose football star father Dwight Yorke is not involved in his upbringing, gripped his mum’s hand. He is partially blind, autistic and suffers from genetic Prader-willi syndrome which causes obesity. He wets the bed twice a night but Katie changes him and manages all his medication. Online trolls have targeted him, and Katie has been pushing for Harvey’s Law, to criminalise the sick abuse.
She said much of the vitriol comes from football fans. “We looked into it,” she said. “I had no idea but most of it is actually from the football fans.” On proposals to make employers DECIDING to seek additional care for your children can be heart-wrenching for parents who have given so much.
Each case is unique, and care has to be carefully matched to the needs and wishes of the individual. It’s personal.
Exploring the options around what’s available and getting expert advice – from a qualified health and social care professional – is crucial. Depending on the vet people who have been prosecuted for being abusive online, she said: “This is about protecting people around you.
“So many people have committed suicide because of online... there should be some protection there.”
Katie admitted she turned to “selfmedicating” on cocaine during a difficult 2018 but had since been to rehab. She said: “Last year I found out my mum was terminally ill, my husband was cheating on me. My horse got run over and it literally died in my arms, my dog got run over, then in South Africa I was hijacked at gunpoint, Harvey had a kidnap threat... I just couldn’t cope.
“I went to the Priory. I was in there for severe trauma and rehabilitation. Am I ashamed? It’s not good but I needed help.”