Beloved Big Brother winner Reggie Bird says she feels ‘guilty’ over her teenage son’s cystic fibrosis diagnosis, which she unknowingly passed on to him.
The 49-year-old opened up about Lucas’ health problems on the website Dr. Golly and the experts podcast this week.
‘I’ve always felt guilty that I gave Lucas this disease, so I feel guilty that I passed this on to him and I would do anything to take that away, but I can’t. It’s depressing,” she admitted.
Lucas was diagnosed with the genetic condition when she was four weeks old, and since then Bird says she has waged an “unrelenting” battle to keep her 14-year-old son alive.
“It affects the whole digestive system and it affects the liver, the kidneys and everything in their body,” she explained.
Beloved Big Brother winner Reggie Bird says she feels ‘guilty’ about her teenage son’s cystic fibrosis diagnosis, which she unknowingly passed on to him
“I’ve always felt guilty that I gave Lucas this disease, so I feel guilty that I passed this on to him and I would do anything to take that away, but I can’t,” she said.
Lucas requires daily physiotherapy and must take medication, which can amount to thirty tablets a day.
She said the condition has taken a toll on her family, and she now regrets not spending more time with her eldest daughter Mia, 16.
“I feel guilty again for not giving her that time,” Bird said. “The way she grew up (she says) ‘It’s always about Lucas.’
Bird also has her own health problems is legally blind after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative eye disease that causes severe visual disturbances.
She also has Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision.
Bird also has her own health problems and is legally blind after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative eye disease that causes severe vision disturbances.
The reality star also has Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision
Speak with News.com.au earlier this year, Reggie admitted that every day is a challenge for her.
‘Living with retinitis pigmentosa is definitely a challenge. Every day is a challenge,” she said.
“So I just have to try to make the best of every day while I can still see, because I only have nine degrees of pinhole vision left, and I don’t have any peripheral vision or night vision.”
Reggie said she has recently had “terrible depression” due to her health problems and because her son Lucas suffers from cystic fibrosis.
“But I pulled myself out of it. Hopefully I never go down that path again. I just think, “Okay, there’s always someone worse off in the world than me.” I just have to try to stay positive. I just can’t let it get to me.’
Reggie made history when she became the first reality star to win Big Brother twice, first in 2003 (pictured) and again in 2022
In October last year, Reggie was heartbroken to discover she had Usher Syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects both hearing and vision.
“It’s not what I wanted to hear,” Reggie explained in an emotional clip shared to Instagram.
‘It’s the worst thing you can have. I’m going deaf-blind,” she continued, before bursting into tears.
Reggie made history when she became the first reality star to win Big Brother twice, first in 2003 and again in 2022.
Reggie said she recently battled “terrible depression” due to her health issues and because her son Lucas suffers from cystic fibrosis
Despite taking home $250,000 in prize money from the 2003 and 2022 seasons of Big Brother, the TV personality has struggled financially over the years.
She previously hit back in an interview at her critics who doubted her poor health TV week.
“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, she’s faking it.’ Who would want to pretend to be blind?’ she told the publication.
The former fish and chip shop manager, who says her view now is like looking through straws, added: ‘They don’t know me or the challenges I face every day.
“I think people who leave comments like that have problems.”