Sam Vanderpump, the 28-year-old Made In Chelsea star and nephew of reality TV icon Lisa Vanderpump, has revealed he has been diagnosed with irreversible end-stage liver disease and may have only four to five years to live without a transplant. Born with congenital hepatic fibrosis and polycystic kidney disease, his conditions remained dormant until a severe flu last December triggered organ failure.
Speaking on Monday’s episode of the E4 series, Vanderpump told his co-star Ollie Locke: “There is no hope of my liver getting better and he said I wouldn't be having this call with you if I thought you could make it through the next four or five years. They're sending me for liver transplant assessment, so yeah.”
Remaining optimistic, he added: “The way I look at it is I'm healthy now, hopefully I will remain healthy all the way up until I'll get a call and go in for surgery and then I wake up and I'll be healthier.” He also acknowledged that many others awaiting transplants are “higher up on the list” and in more critical condition.
Following the episode, the NHS Organ Donation service praised Vanderpump for speaking out, writing: “Our thoughts are with Sam and his family. We hope that his courage in speaking out will offer inspiration to others. Sadly, thousands of people are currently waiting for a life-saving transplant because not enough people agree to donate their organs.”
The revelation comes months after Vanderpump shared that he “nearly died” in December when liver and kidney failure led to sepsis. His fiancée, model Alice Yaxley, called an ambulance after he became delirious; doctors later told him that if he had arrived 24 hours later, he would not have survived. He lost 15kg in eight days while in hospital.
Vanderpump, who is expecting his first child with Yaxley, is the youngest son of Mark and Simone Vanderpump. His father Mark, brother of Lisa Vanderpump, died in 2018 at age 59, with an inquest ruling his death as suicide due to drug toxicity.
