Gemma Collins was told her mother Joan could die after she was rushed to hospital in recent weeks.
The former TOWIE star, 43, was left horrified after her mother, 80, stopped breathing shortly after a family meal and was told doctors may not resuscitate her.
Speaking to The Sun, she said: ‘I’ve had a lot of stress the last couple of weeks.
‘My mum was suddenly taken into hospital and I was told she could die. They would not resuscitate her if she went into cardiac arrest.
‘So imagine that, you know, I’m in the hospital having been out for dinner the day before, and then the next day I’m like, ‘wow’, so that was a massive shock.’
Gemma Collins was told her mother Joan could die after she was rushed to hospital in recent weeks
Gemma said her mother spent time in the intensive care unit but is doing ‘amazing’ now a few weeks after the terrifying incident.
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.
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.
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.
