Made In Chelsea is back on our screens for the 29th season. Already, all our favourite familiar faces from the Chelsea set, and some newcomers, are keeping us entertained with more drama, romances and fallouts.
But it hasn't all been plain sailing for one member of the cast. Sam Vanderpump, who recently announced his engagement to Alice Yaxley, opened up about catching sepsis on the first episode of Made in Chelsea season 29, explaining that in the months before he had become 'really quite ill'. Speaking about the ordeal in an interview with The Mirror, Sam explained he ‘nearly died’ after liver and kidney failure caused his stomach to swell and triggered life-threatening sepsis.
Here's what we know...
What happened to Sam Vanderpump?
Sam Vanderpump has been speaking out about his terrifying ordeal with sepsis. In January, he told MailOnline that he 'nearly died' after contracting the illness, which was caused by liver and kidney failure. 'I thought I was going to die. I didn't think my body could cope and that was the scariest thing. It was terrifying. I remember the doctor saying to me that I was going into liver and kidney failure. I burst into tears,' he told the publication.
Sam was born with liver and kidney disease, which lay dormant in his body until he got sick with the flu in December. He also has asthma, which caused his organs to struggle with the illness. He was rushed to Westminster Hospital after his fiancée Alice Yaxley called an ambulance - and, according to doctors, this quick thinking saved Sam's life.
‘You never think the flu will lead to you being in a hospital bed and nearly dying. They told my mum that if I had got to hospital 24-48 hours later, I wouldn’t have made it. By calling the ambulance, my girlfriend literally saved my life,' Sam told MailOnline.
He continued by explaining the doctors described the function of his liver as 'deranged' and demonic.' When his liver stopped working, it had a knock on effect on his other heart, pancreas and spleen. 'And you can feel all this pain and uncomfortableness, I was really, really fighting to keep myself alive. I didn’t think I was going to survive or see the outside of the hospital again,’ he said. ‘You never think the flu will lead to you being in a hospital bed and nearly dying. They told my mum that if I had got to hospital 24-48 hours later, I wouldn’t have made it. By calling the ambulance, my girlfriend literally saved my life.’
He added: ‘They told me I was the sickest patient on the ward.’ Sam suffered terrifying side-effects as a result of the illness, including jaundice and a stomach that was swollen with fluids.
The reality TV star also developed jaundice, turning his skin and whites of his eyes yellow. ‘At one point they wanted to stick a needle in me to drain the water but luckily my kidneys started working,’ he told the Daily Mail, revealing that he lost 15kg during the 15 day illness - which he referred to as the most ‘painful’ experience of his life.
In an interview with The Mirror, Sam also addressed how the terrifying experience is still impacting him now. He explained that although he had recovered physically from the 'terrifying’ experience, he was still struggling with health anxiety. 'Mentally, it probably is the most challenging thing I’ve gone through,' he said. 'There were signs which can so easily be mistaken for common flu symptoms. So now, every time I get a pain or feel a little lethargic, I think, ‘Oh God, am I getting sepsis?’ rather than, ‘Do I have something completely minor?’
Thankfully, Sam has made a full recovery - and it's not all bad news. In an interview with OK! Sam mentioned the scary health battles might have bought him closer to his now-finance Alice, after she supported him through. . 'Alice and I have only been dating for about six months, but we’ve gone through such a lot in such a short period of time. From day dot, Alice has been with me pretty much 24/7. And over Christmas we went through a bit of an episode together where I got really, really ill,' he said, adding 'I got an infection due to a genetic disease I’ve got, which led to sepsis and it ended up quite bad. I was in hospital and it was a close call, I could have died.'