BB’S Reggie “I thought I was going to die!”
Just as things seemed to be improving for the reality star, she was struck another shock blow…
With a degenerative eye disease sending her blind, and raising a child with cystic fibrosis as a single mum, life has been less than kind to reality TV star Reggie Sorensen since she won Big Brother – and the heart of Australia – 14 years ago.
Now, in a cruel twist, Reggie has suffered a stroke in the middle of an “incredibly stressful” court battle with a former boyfriend.
“I was at work and all of a sudden my eye was droopy and my face went numb and I couldn’t speak properly,” reveals Reggie, who is already legally blind and cannot drive a car because her vision is permanently blurry.
“I was taken by ambulance to the emergency department for scans and bloods tests, and doctors suspected I had Bell’s palsy [a sudden paralysis of one side of the face]”.
But last week Reggie found out it was even worse than first thought – with a neurologist confirming she’d suffered a minor stroke, ordering more tests and putting her on medication to prevent a second stroke.
“I was in so much shock when he told me – I’m only 43 and I’ve got two young kids to bring up,” says Reggie.
But the brave mum to Mia, 10, and seven-year-old Lucas, says once the shock passed it was almost a relief to find out the cause of her droopy eye and facial numbness.
Her diagnosis came just as Reggie – who’d recently moved into a new home and ended her relationship – had begun to feel as though life was on the improve.
Even CF sufferer Lucas had finally begun putting on weight, much to the delight of his sister Mia and Reggie, who’ll see her eye specialist in two weeks to find out how much her sight has diminished in the past two years.
“I need a new body,” jokes Reggie, who insists there are plenty of people worse off and counts her blessings to have two beautiful children. “I just hope I get some good news when I see the eye specialist.”
‘My face went numb and I couldn’t speak properly’