Gemma Collins has revealed her mother Joan has been rushed to hospital and is in intensive care.
The reality TV personality, 43, shared sweet snaps with her mum to social media, telling fans Joan is ‘really ill at the minute’.
In a video shared to Instagram, Gemma – who has openly spoken about her mum’s health struggles in the past – explained: ‘My mum is really ill at the minute, she’s in intensive care.
‘It’s been a hell of a time and you know, I’m really happy, and well not that happy, because my mum’s in intensive care, but she is on the mend, thank god.’
She later wrote: ‘Last week I had the shock of my life when my mum stopped breathing. I called an ambulance and was told to prepare for the worst and would I like to resuscitate her.
Gemma Collins has revealed her mother Joan has been rushed to hospital and is in intensive care
The reality TV personality, 43, shared snaps with her mum to social media, telling fans Joan is ‘really ill at the minute’
She then reassured worried fans that Joan is now ‘stable’ and will ‘hopefully’ be much better soon.
In August last year, Gemma shared a snap of her mother with a breathing tube in her nose after being admitted to Queens Hospital in Essex.
She penned: ‘Such a scary moment when Mum comes to hospital. Thank you Queens Hospital Romford for all you’re doing.’
Sharing another snap of her mother on her grid, she added: ‘Love your parents as hard as you can. Thank you to everyone looking after mum @joancollins1 at QUEENS HOSPITAL ROMFORD.’
Many of Gemma’s followers shared their own messages of support in the comments, with Jedward writing: ‘Your mom is the most loving and caring soul ever – sending healing energy.’
In March 2023, Gemma revealed she was having a life-saving gene test after Joan was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The Diva Forever star was left shaken after learning her mum Joan found a cancerous lump between her breast and armpit.
Gemma, who has also lost a family member to cancer, has spoken to her doctor about undergoing a BRCA gene test, which screens her DNA to see if she has inherited a faulty gene which means she may be more susceptible to cancer.
Former The Only Way Is Essex star told The Sun she broke down in tears the moment her mother told her she’d had cancer over the phone.
Gemma didn’t share exactly what prompted the sudden hospital admission, but has openly spoken about her mum’s health struggles in the past
She explained: ‘It was over the phone. I was in the back of a taxi in London and I was like, ‘Are you all right, mum? Where are you?’ — as we say every day, ten times a day.
‘She said, ‘Ah I didn’t want to tell you, but I’ve had a lump in my breast’. I was like, ‘What?’, and she said, ‘But it’s fine I’ve got the all-clear’. I was like, ‘Oh, my God. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Gemma said Joan chose not to tell her daughter about her diagnosis as she was filming Diva Forever at the time.
Former Celebrity Big Brother housemate Gemma said her mother found the lump on the right side of her breast and doctors caught it ‘in the nick of time’.
She added: ‘She knew that I would have fallen apart in the worst-case scenario so she kept it to herself because she didn’t want to upset me — but she was very scared.’
Gemma praised the NHS for their swift action, saying they removed the lump straight away.
Joan was diagnosed in 2016 with ductal carcinoma in situ, which means the cells in the lining of the breast tissue become cancerous, and she now attends a screening every year.
The cancerous cells are contained inside the milk ducts and have not spread to the surrounding breast tissue.
Hereditary breast cancer is most commonly caused by an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.
In August last year, Gemma shared a snap of her mother with a breathing tube in her nose after being admitted to Queens Hospital in Essex
If a woman has inherited a mutated copy of these genes from either parent, they are at a greater risk of developing breast cancer, with up to a 70 per cent chance of getting the disease by the age of 80.
Gemma noted that her mother is lucky to be a breast cancer survivor and she hopes telling her story will encourage other people to go for checks.
Screen star is currently taking part in The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer and has decided only now to speak out about her mother’s ordeal.
It comes after Gemma revealed she is having ice spa sessions after enduring a heart attack scare.
She ended up in hospital after having palpitations last year as she battles what she thinks is long COVID and has been plunging herself in sub-zero temperatures in a bid to combat the issue and rebuild her immune system.
She told OK! Magazine : ‘The palpitations got so bad I thought I was having a heart attack.
‘I called an ambulance and the paramedics did an ECG [electrocardiogram] and said, ‘We need to take you to hospital.’ I said to myself, ‘Great, this is it. My time is up.’
‘But, thank God, it was a condition called costochondritis, which can cause severe chest pain and happens because of coughing or an infection.