Kerry Katona's heartache over mum's illness - 'I'm scared and alone - this could be it for her'
Kerry Katona has, by her own admission, had a terrible time lately. She has spent the past week comforting her mum, Sue, in hospital after doctors found several blood clots and damage in her heart. Revealing that at one point Sue could nearly have died, Kerry’s swift actions saved her life but the 44-year-old former Atomic Kitten singer is now struggling emotionally and is petrified that she is going to lose her mum.
“I am really, really scared that this is it, I could lose her. It has been a horrible week and I just feel terrified, I’ve not been sleeping and have been spending all my time in the hospital with my mum. I want to spend every last minute with her,” says Kerry, fighting back tears, as she opens up exclusively to OK! about the ordeal.
After noticing her mum’s health declining over recent months, Kerry had been suggesting Sue see a doctor – something which she was reluctant to do. But last week, things reached tipping point as Kerry admits she staged an ‘intervention’ to get her mum to the hospital, as she was struggling to walk.
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Now, mum-of-five Kerry couldn’t be more glad of her decision, as she admits things could have taken a grave turn, without her decision to take action, quickly. “The doctors told me that she would have died if I hadn’t taken her in that night. I basically saved her life. But now it’s worrying, because I don’t know how long for.”
When Sue was examined in the hospital, doctors found two blood clots in her lungs, and issues with her heart. “She’s on blood thinners now, but the medications increase her chance of having a stroke and a brain bleed. It’s all very touch and go,” explains an emotional Kerry, who has been spending each and every day at hospital, by her mum’s bedside.
It is no secret that Kerry hasn’t had the most straightforward of relationships with her mum. Sue has battled drug addictions before and mental health issues for several years. When Kerry was 13, she was placed in foster care as Sue was deemed unable to care for her, leading to Kerry living in four different foster homes as she was passed through the system.
In September, Kerry told new that her birthday that month is quite a ‘triggering’ time for her, as it reminds her of those times. “I think it’s because it was a couple of days after my 13th birthday that I got put into a foster home. I’ll never forget getting some birthday money that year, I think it was about £35, and having to give it away to a taxi driver to help my mum”, she confessed. “I get quite depressed around my birthday, so I don’t want to do much for it. I always say that Mother’s Day is my day. I like to celebrate then.”
Kerry has also opened up before about her mum giving her drugs as a teen, something which Sue has since expressed deep regret for. “I had my first drug with my mum. I was 14. She told me it was sherbet and it was speed. I’m not making excuses for her because I could never excuse it, but she had a tough upbringing and has had a very difficult life, too,” Kerry said previously.
Now, the star is trying to process the thought of losing Sue after all this time, and is trying to remain strong for them both. “Even after everything we’ve been through and our rocky relationship, she’s still my mum. She’s the only person who has known me through everything before I was famous or any of this, she’s my mum,” says Kerry.
“It’s so hard, I wanted to run for the hills when the doctors thought she was going to die, it’s just scary. But you show up for family and that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m putting on a smile for her but then I leave the hospital and I’m so scared. I’m staying at her flat to look after her cat and I think, what if I’m sleeping in the bed she might never return to?”
Kerry also misses her kids, having been away from her five children and fiancé Ryan Mahoney as she looks after her mum. Her two eldest daughters Molly, 23, and Lilly-Sue, 21, both live in Ireland, while Heidi, 17, Max, 16, and DJ, 10, are all remaining in her Cheshire home with fiancé Ryan.
Admitting that the loneliness has taken its toll, Kerry shares, “I do feel very alone in all of this. I feel like I’m having to wrap my arms around myself and look after myself while being there for my mum. I got 45 minutes of sleep the other night and that was it. It’s horrible, just going over everything in your head.
“I have had messages from people I went to school with checking if I’m ok, which is really nice. It shows who your true friends are, times like these. They remember my mum from when I was young and have seen her at her best, so it’s nice to talk to people who know her. And Lilly has flown over from Ireland, so she’s coming over tonight, which will definitely help,” says Kerry, as we ask who she is leaning on.
Kerry has also been keeping her Instagram followers up to date throughout the difficult time, sharing videos with Sue from the hospital, as they attempt to remain positive in a heartbreaking situation. But other than being on standby, she has cancelled any other plans for the time being, admitting she doesn’t know what the next steps are. “I’ve cancelled all of my work. I am not doing anything until we know what is happening with my mum.
“Right now, we don’t know what will happen. We have had conversations with the doctors where they’ve said, ‘Sue, if we put you on life support, you won’t ever come off it.’ They’ve said they can’t resuscitate her because of the damage to her heart. It’s been absolutely awful.
“So, right now, I’m just hoping and praying that she comes through this.”
