UPDATE: |Louise Thompson says ‘I failed myself’ as she ‘doesn’t have answers’ over terrifying health scare News

The reality star was flooded with support as she reflected on her previous health scares following the birth of her son

Louise Thompson has told how she felt she had ‘failed herself’ as she reflected on her previous health scares following the birth of her son.

The reality star and her fiance Ryan Libby welcomed their first child, Leo, into the world back in November 2021 after suffering a heartbreaking miscarriage in 2020.

But during her son’s arrival, Louise endured a nightmare when her son Leo’s head became trapped in her pelvis, leading to an emergency caesarean section.

The former Made in Chelsea star ended up losing a staggering three-and-a-half litres of blood during the ordeal as doctors struggled for over three hours to control a haemorrhage.

It was later discovered that Louise had suffered a torn womb, which was the source of the excessive bleeding. In the time that followed, Louise faced prolonged stays in hospital and battled both the phyiscal and mental trauma of what she had suffered.

Then, in February 2024, the star was forced to cut a trip to Antigua short and book an early flight home after ‘losing cupfuls of blood every 20 minutes’.

It was then later in the year that Louise underwent emergency surgery before going into septic shock in November. Then earlier this year, she was admitted to a London hospital where she had a ‘lifesaving’ stoma bag fitted, after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2018.

Louise has taken her online following on her health journey in recent years and in a recent update, the 35-year-old spoke about having to be your own advocate when it comes to your health.

Having appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour despite her fears around the interview, Louise shared on Instagram: “DO THE HARD THING. You will feel better for it afterwards… and even if you don’t, you will learn from it.

“You might simply make the decision never to do it again, but at least you haven’t run away. Life is too short to run away. And no one really cares anyway. Unless you’re a bad person. Then people care, but those people should be keeping their views to themself.”

She went on to explan: “Everything in my head was saying to get out of that chair. Fight or flight was quite literally saying ‘get out of there’, ‘run’… I think we all know my fight or flight system is pretty overreactive by this point. Perks of ptsd. Some call it hyper-vigilance and perhaps I’ve always been on the hypervigilant side of life…

“But in this instance I knew deep down that I was going to be ok because I was passionate about what I was talking about, so I put my pride (and a hella lot of anxiety) to one side and spoke a little bit about my experience of childbirth and mental health (lived over the past 3 1/2 years), on Women’s hour over on BBC Radio 4 this morning.

“Such a privilege to be able to do this sort of thing (surrounded by such great company) and I really believe that if doing the interview can help even ONE woman avoid making the same mistakes as me, then my job of ‘speaking up’ feels totally worthwhile. And certainly worth the temporary spike in cortisol.”

It is then when she shared: “So what would my advice be to listeners: Listen to your body – I believe we know best… scans and blood tests are critical when it comes to learning about what’s going on inside your body, but there is this also this huge other data source too, US! Our intuition. HOW WE ARE FEELING!?!?!?

“I failed myself again in October. I sat in A&E and was turned away by a junior doctor who said that everything would be fine. No need to escalate. I knew I wasn’t fine because I was in excruciating pain in my pelvic area, all around my left side… my ovary, my fallopian tubes, all close to my rectal stump.

“A week later I was back on the operating table with peritonitis which can be life threatening. Grrr. Still don’t have all the answers. Might have if I’d got scanned sooner. I should have listened to my own advice. It’s easier said than done. It I should have listened to my own advice. It can be HARD to speak up for yourself, but you HAVE TO.⁣..”

Fans were quick to show their support and praise for her using her voice and platform to speak on such personal and important issues. @talia_arose_music said: “Thank you for persevering to share and raise awareness.” @lisapops69 commented: “Your courage and strength is amazing. Keep being your beautiful self. Much love.”

@zurawski1 wrote: “I was listening today, you were amazing and I could relate with a lot of what you said. It made me pause and feel grateful for you sharing your vulnerability like that.” @laurenmgreenx added: “So freakin’ brave. I’m in awe of you, your story & your journey has been such a huge part of my healing.”