I’m A Celeb’s Craig Charles opens up about health struggles and reveals he has same condition that killed his brother
I’M A CELEB star Craig Charles has opened up about having the same condition that killed his brother.
Speaking to his fellow campmates, the former Coronation Street icon revealed he has to take eight tablets a day and has four stents in his heart due to the condition he battles.
Speaking to Ashley Roberts, Scarlett Moffatt and Sir Mo Farah, Craig opened up about his health.
He shared: “The arteries from my heart were narrow. It’s the same thing that killed my brother when I was here last time.
“They told me this is genetic, you need to go get that looked at.
“And then my wife, Jackie, is in Galway, visiting their parents, and I’m at home. I gave her a ring, something like that ‘I don’t feel great, man. My jaws are tingling’.
“Anyway, her sister in law’s a nurse and said to call for an ambulance, so I didn’t, because you don’t call the ambulance on your own.
“And she was coming home in the morning, so she came home the next morning and took one look at me and got on the phone, and the woman said, ‘We think he’s having a heart attack, and stay with me’.
“She asked ‘what colour is he?’ And she [wife] said ‘he’s brown’. So by now I am having a heart attack and laughing my socks off.
“And then they put a wire in, which is attached to a balloon, and then they blow the balloon up, then they stick a stent in, and it goes all the way up there into your heart, so it widens the artery.
“Because apparently I was existing only 35% blood to my heart, and when they put the stents in and it’s on 100%. So they saved me.
“My brother had the same thing, but he passed out, he was working at a school as a teacher.”
Reacting to what Craig had told his campmates, one person on X penned: “Really feel for Craig. Would love to see him win this.”
“Aw Craig. Protect him at all costs,” said a second.
“Awe Craig I had no idea he had heart problems himself the same that killed his brother,” added a third.
While a fourth penned: “I just want to wrap my arms around Craig. What a great guy he is.”
Craig’s condition is the same one that caused his brother Dean’s fatal heart attack in 2014.
The Corrie star learned of his brother’s passing during his first jungle stint.
The show’s producers told him as he woke in the camp, with Craig leaving camp soon after to fly home to be with his family.
After his brother’s passing, Craig’s health scare and subsequent heart attack led to him having four stents fitted in his heart.
