Katie Price’s mum Amy gave a health update on Sunday after undergoing a ‘life saving’ lung transplant last year.
Amy, 71, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in 2017, a terminal lung disease with a life expectancy of three to five years.
She admitted she has had ‘quite a few setbacks’ during her recovery and things are still ‘up and down’.
Amy told the Daily Star: ‘It’s a slow process and it’s taken a while. I’ve had quite a few setbacks but that’s to be expected but I’m in the right direction.
‘The trouble is when you have a lung transplant it’s so easy to sit because you still get a bit breathless but if I don’t exercise, I won’t move forward.
‘It’s a slow process’: Katie Price ‘s mum Amy gave a health update on Sunday after undergoing a ‘life saving’ lung transplant last year
Opening up: Amy, 71, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in 2017, a terminal lung disease with a life expectancy of three to five years (pictured July 2023)
‘I had a single lung transplant but it would cease up so I’ve got to exercise to get it working.’
Earlier this year Katie helped launch a hard-hitting campaign for Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month following her mum, Amy’s ‘devastating’ diagnosis.
The mother and daughter are now showing full support to the APF’s You Can’t See What’s Killing Me campaign.
She explained how the disease ‘robs people of breath and life’ as Katie stressed the importance of raising awareness as concerning data shows that it’s on the rise.
The former glamour model, 45, explained: ‘Mum’s been amazing but it’s been devastating having pulmonary fibrosis – for her and the whole family.
‘When you say cancer everyone knows what it is but with pulmonary fibrosis nobody’s ever heard of it. That’s why I’m so passionate about more people knowing about it and supporting Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis and their campaign this September.’
Amy added: ‘I know what it’s like to live with pulmonary fibrosis – it’s a horrible disease that robs you of your breath and life. We need to grab people’s attention, so more people know what pulmonary fibrosis is.
‘Our GPs and nurses at the surgeries require more training so they can recognise the symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis and not confuse it with asthma and other lung diseases. That’s why I’m supporting Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis’s campaign’.
Amy further stressed the importance of raising awareness on the lung disease following concerning data that showed it’s currently on the rise.
New statistics released today from the charity Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis revealed that over three quarters of people with pulmonary fibrosis (77%) say their GP didn’t tell them they might have pulmonary fibrosis before referring them to hospital leaving patients unaware they’re living with a fatal lung disease.
Update: She admitted she has had ‘quite a few setbacks’ during her recovery and things are still ‘up and down’
Amy said: ‘It’s a slow process and it’s taken a while. I’ve had quite a few setbacks but that’s to be expected but I’m in the right direction’ (pictured July 2023)
Battle: Earlier this year Katie helped launch a hard-hitting campaign for Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month following her mum, Amy’s ‘devastating’ diagnosis (pictured with Katie in 2019)
In September Katie revealed her mother’s life was put at risk by climate activists, who blocked the road as she travelled to the hospital for an organ transplant
She explained that Amy only had two weeks to live at the time and ‘nearly died’ because you only have three hours to get to hospital for a transplant.
While she was being rushed to the hospital, the road was blocked by Just Stop Oil, who had staged a protest on the M25.
Amy had just weeks left to live until she found a donor for a lung.
Speaking on the Private Parts podcast, she said: ‘Mum had two weeks left to live at the time. She found a donor. She was waiting five years for a lung.
‘It was the day all the oil protesters were on the M25 and you have three hours to get to hospital otherwise you can’t have the donor [organ].
‘So they had to get an ambulance. When they were on the motorway, they didn’t realise!’
However, Katie went on to add that a heroic ambulance driver went on to save the day by cutting through to make sure she got to the hospital on time.
She said: ‘They had to go up the hard shoulder, and get an ambulance to get through it, because if you’re not there you lose it [the lung].’
Amy previously hailed the medical staff who carried out her operation as ‘amazing’ and also paid tribute to the regular faces she saw on every hospital appointment because they meant Katie could feel ‘less worried’ about her when she was unable to be by her side.
She told The Sun: ‘The doctors and surgeons who did my transplant are amazing but it is the friendly faces you see at every appointment that mean the world. Katie couldn’t be here 24/7, so knowing I had a family here made everyone less worried about me.’
