LOOSE Women star Kellé Bryan has stripped off for a new campaign to help raise awareness around Lupus – after revealing the condition at one point spread to her brain.
The former Hollyoaks actress and Eternal singer was diagnosed with the auto-immune condition back in 2000, after she ended up in hospital after a cold turned into pneumonia two years prior.
The star laid bare the effect lupus has had on her body
Kellé revealed lupus at one point spread to her brain and caused her to ‘bolt’
Since then she has been a fierce advocate for charities surrounding lupus, which causes your body’s immune system to attack its healthy cells.
In a brave new ad shared on Loose Women today, Kellé was seen laid bare on a white background, make-up free, with banners stating: “No signs, no symptoms, no cure”.
She’s also surrounded by the effects lupus has had on her body, with arrows pointing to “arthritis in joints”, “memory loss”, “butterfly rash” (a symptomatic shaped inflammation across your nose and cheeks) and “hair loss”.
Speaking to her friends on the panel, Kellé revealed she lost the ability to walk and had to have speech therapy to get back to her best.
On the final day of awareness month, she shared her delight at raising £10,000 for charity Lupus UK by posing naked in order to bring “more tolerance and understanding” to the condition, especially its severity.
She told the panel: “At the moment there is no cure – there’s no reason why you get it and there’s limited research.
“It’s a difficult time to raise money, but I have managed to raise £10,000 – but I haven’t done it alone!”
Lupus is often aggravated by stress, and there is currently no cure – although there are different medications that can help relieve symptoms.
Kellé urged viewers to get checked if they thought they might have lupus – applying pressure on doctors who at times won’t recognise the symptoms as they’re often emblematic of other illnesses.
In fact, Kellé discovered later that it had spread further than she realised, with inflammation causing issues in her behaviour.
“It went to my brain but I didn’t release at the time,” she said. “I thought it was mental health problems. I used to bolt on a regular basis, my children were scared of me. I was worried they would be taken away.”
“I didn’t know what I was capable of – if you are wondering what is wrong with you, it could be lupus,” she concluded. “Go to your GP, demand they check for the symptoms. It started in my mouth and it got to the point where I could move and I couldn’t speak.”
The star previously left co-star Denise Welch in tears as she shared the after-effects of her stroke in 2016, which meant she needed to learn to talk again.
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.
Kellé is now raising awareness for the disease after it went undiagnosed for so long
