HEADLINE GENERATION FAILED, ORIGINAL: Made In Chelsea’s Sam Vanderpump’s humble plea as he fights end-stage liver disease
A TV star has made a humble plea as he battles an end-life disease shortly after becoming a dad for the first time. The TV personality was keen to get his touching message across to fans after his new arrival.
When Sam Vanderpump first held his newborn son, he was flooded with love, but also a sense of fear for what the future might hold. Baby Duke was welcomed into the world by Sam and his wife Alice in February this year. The little one, who is lovingly cradled by his parents during our interview, has brought them a joy they never knew possible. However, this joy could be fleeting as Sam is suffering from liver failure and urgently needs a transplant to save his life.
“There’s this amazing love and bond,” Sam shares about his two-month-old son. “When he was born I cried. There was this moment, that everyone explained, that I couldn’t believe was going to happen. And when it happened I was like, ‘This is the best feeling in the world.’
“I can actually feel the bond growing daily. I got up at 2am with him in the morning for the last two nights and I am just cuddling him and he’s amazing and I’m thinking, ‘I love you so much.’ And it’s unbelievable. It’s incredible.”
At 29, Sam lost his own father Mark to suicide in 2018. The grief was so intense that Sam couldn’t bring himself to talk about his father for six years following his passing. He never wants Duke to experience the same pain, reports the Mirror.
“I find it extremely hard,” admits Sam. “From age 21 to 27, I didn’t think I spoke to anyone about it. We just didn’t. It was just too raw because of the manner in which he went. It was a really, really hard thing to deal with and the easiest way to deal with it was to block it out. That’s the way some people deal with trauma. It did get me through the first six years after he passed.”
Sam was diagnosed with congenital hepatic fibrosis at the tender age of four. For many years, doctors kept an eye on his condition while Sam led a normal life. However, in December 2024, a sudden infection escalated into life-threatening sepsis. Alice saved his life by promptly calling an ambulance. During this time, Alice and Sam’s mum Simone formed a close bond as they sat by his hospital bed.
“I have known about my liver disease since I was diagnosed at the age of four,” reveals Sam. “It was incurable but for 23 years it didn’t affect me at all.”
Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. Following his recent health scares, doctors have informed Sam that his condition has progressed into irreversible end-stage liver disease. His only hope of watching his son grow up is a liver transplant. “I’ve had a few bouts of cholangitis which can be life threatening, which led to sepsis and that’s when I became very unwell just over a year and a half ago,” explains Sam. “That’s why they want to do a liver transplant.”
Alice described the moment she saw Sam cradle their son Duke for the first time as magical. It was a moment she had feared might not happen during her pregnancy. “Seeing Sam with Duke and seeing their bond and their relationship grow is magical,” Alice shared. “Just watching the love that he had for Duke the first time he held him, it’s just amazing, it’s not even describable.”
They both want to hold on to this joy. However, with 615 people currently on the liver transplant waiting list in the UK, their future remains uncertain. “When Sam was really ill, I don’t think I actually understood the severity of it because I was just in survival mode each day,” Alice admitted. “The information we were learning from doctors was so different day to day. His mum and I genuinely just got through the day just wanting to put a smile on Sam’s face and I don’t think it was until I knew he was actually OK that I broke down and processed what we had just gone through. I almost feel like I didn’t enjoy my pregnancy because it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. I think Sam’s health was definitely taking priority in all of our lives at that time.”
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