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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Sam Elliott-Gibbs

Loose Women’s Kelle Bryan poses naked to boost lupus battle that caused brain to swell

Brave Kelle Bryan says was more than happy to take her clothes off as she raised £10,000 to help fight the brain-swelling condition that left her unable to talk.

The former Eternal singer told the Loose Women about her fight against lupus which totally changed her life, causing a seizure and leaving her living in fear that he children would be taken away.

The star told how she lost the ability to walk when she was struck down by the autoimmune disease, a long-term condition in which the body's immune system attacks healthy parts of the body.

Kelle had to have speech therapy and she vowed to do all she can to publicise the illness on the final day of lupus awareness month.

Kelle Bryan was emotional as she opened up on Loose Women, discussing her battle with lupus (ITV)

When her daughter Kayori had a cold in 1998, Kelle caught it and ended up in intensive care with pneumonia - and it was just the start of her torment.

She says she posed naked because there wasn't much 'tolerance or understanding' of the blood disease.

"At the moment there is no cure - there's no reason why you get it and there's limited research," she said.

"It's difficult times to raise money, but I have managed to raise £10,000 - but I haven't done it alone!

She posed naked to draw attention to disease (ITV)

"Some GPs aren't even aware of the symptoms and they need to be.

"I posted naked because I wanted people to understand the starkness of the disease. People think it's not severe."

Kelle said her hair started to fall out and she struggled to speak as she developed ulcers in her mouth.

Now she wants to help others - and says putting pressure on doctors to check is half of the battle.

"It went to my brain but I didn't release at the time. I thought it was mental health problems," she said.

"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.

"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."

*Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV

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