Vicki Gunvalson Opens Up About Frightening Health Battle: ‘10 to 20 Percent’ Chance of Survival
Vicki Gunvalson Opens Up About Frightening Health Battle: ‘10 to 20 Percent’ Chance of Survival
Vicki Gunvalson, the former star of The Real Housewives of Orange County, is taking time to recover after a frightening health crisis that nearly cost her life.
The reality TV icon recently opened up about her medical emergency, revealing that it started with alarming symptoms of amnesia and confusion. Doctors later informed Vicki that the condition she was facing has a survival rate of only 10 to 20 percent.
On the latest episode of her podcast, My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast, co-hosted with Christian Gray Snow, Vicki recounted the terrifying ordeal.
She began by describing how the first signs of trouble emerged. “There seems to be about an hour or two that I was missing, and I don’t know where I was,” Vicki shared, adding that she was “talking gibberish” to a client who was visiting her Coto Insurance office.
Fortunately, that client was a retired doctor who quickly realized something was seriously wrong. He alerted Olivia, the daughter of Vicki’s boyfriend, Michael Smith, who works in the office. The doctor feared that Vicki might be “having a stroke.”
“I don’t remember anything,” Gunvalson explained, “and [Olivia] took me to the hospital.” There, Gunvalson was initially diagnosed with a sinus infection and given antibiotics. Olivia, concerned for Vicki’s well-being, called her father and urged him to return home immediately to care for her.
Michael, who joined Vicki on the podcast, described his experience during the crisis. “She was lethargic and really didn’t understand where she was,” he recalled, explaining that the doctors initially attributed her symptoms to the sinus infection since she had recently been treated for one.
The situation took a terrifying turn when Michael found Vicki unconscious in the bathtub. “I grabbed her, pulled her out of the water, put her in bed.
The doctor said she just needed to sleep, so I put her in bed and she slept literally 13, 14 hours straight,” he said. However, when he rushed her back to the hospital, they discovered the issue was far more severe than a sinus infection.
“She had a massive infection,” Michael revealed. “It was actually sepsis, but it was pneumonia…when your body is fighting that big of an infection and that dangerous of an infection, your whole body attacks it, which affects the brain and everything else in your body.”
Vicki became emotional as she recounted her neurologist’s grim prognosis, who informed her that the condition typically has only a “10 to 20 percent” chance of survival.
Holding back tears, Gunvalson reflected on how quickly life can change. “I cry a lot, and Michael keeps saying, ‘Why do you keep crying?’ I don’t have an answer. I mean, rewind a week ago, we were in Barcelona walking 16 [to] 20,000 steps and we were having the time of our life, and three days later, [I’m in the hospital].”
Despite the ordeal, Michael reassured listeners that Vicki is on the mend. “She will be fine. She’s coming out of it.”
We’re all wishing Vicki a speedy recovery as she continues her journey to full health.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
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Avigail is an Entertainment blogger at All About The Tea, who specializes in The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Potomac. Avigail has a background in marketing. She’s a Brooklynite living in the Bahamas, with a passion for travel, writing, reality TV watching, pop culture and spoken word.