Former TOWIE star Mark Wright erupted into floods of tears as he spoke about his darling young nephew’s rare heart condition, admitting that seeing him suffer “just hurts”
Mark Wright burst into tears whilst speaking about his young nephew’s health condition.
Former TOWIE icon Mark has been busy with life in recent weeks, following the arrival of his beautiful baby Palma, together with loving wife Michelle Keegan. The pair have not had it easy, however, after they revealed they had to hide whilst their home was being raided in a harrowing experience.
However, to add to his woes, Mark spoke candidly that his sister’s son Presley had been diagnosed with a rare heart condition. The disease has affected the entire family; particularly Presley’s parents Jessica Wright and William Lee-Kemp.
Presley had been diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve, a rare heart condition which sees the aortic valve – which carries vital blood through the heart – only have two leaflets instead of a typical heart which has three. Should it be left untreated, major health complications can come from this including heart failure and several intense infections.
The star opened up about how the heart condition was affecting his family as he addressed the Have a Heart Gala – hosted by Jessica in support of the Brompton Fountain, a charity helping children with serious lung and heart conditions. Mark joined proceedings after a small film was played surrounding the impact heart conditions have on families.
In the video, Presley had been featured, and it was obvious that the clip had affected uncle Mark. So much so, that when the video ended and Jessica and Mark returned to the stage, Mark was left visibly emotional as he addressed the crowd, according to the Mirror.
His voice trembling as he struggled to hold back tears, he sobbed: “When it’s that close to home, it just…sorry, it just hurts.” He then turned to sister Jessica to offer some words of encouragement.
“Although I don’t tell her often, my sister is an extraordinary woman,” he beamed. “I am biased, of course, but I think we can all agree that her and her husband Will’s strength, honesty and the love they show their son is nothing short of remarkable.”
He then turned his back to the audience and pointed towards the screen to his darling nephew Presley, saying: “And to my nephew, you’re the bravest little boy I know.” The entire room proceeded to erupt into applause as Mark tried to regain his composure, the Mirror reported.
According to the family, Presley is checked on regularly by doctors, going for checkups every 12 weeks to have heart scans and ECGs to check the quality of his organ. However, the struggle is set to get worse for the family as Jessica revealed that Presley will likely need to undergo open heart surgery at some point before he turns ten years old.
“It’s a case of waiting until the point where we know that his heart valves need to be replaced,” says Jessica. “So, essentially, it can happen at any moment.”
But despite the various health risks, the young boy is still able to live a normal life, and had a particularly close bond with his cousins Josh Jr and Dustin. He also has taken a shine to Mark’s newborn daughter Palma, whom Jessica described was an “angel”.
“Presley is so close to his cousins Josh and Dustin, and, obviously, now we’ve got Palma who is going to fit right in; she’s adorable!” she beamed. “They all absolutely love spending time with each other and Palma is an angel – she’s adorable, beautiful and so sweet; the boys love her and are very gentle with her.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
