Kerry Katona feared she was having a stroke after being rushed to hospital when her face began to change during a day out watching her daughter perform.
Kerry Katona feared she was having a stroke after being rushed to hospital when her face began to change during a day out watching her daughter perform
The 45-year-old singer was in London attending a play featuring her eldest daughter Molly McFadden, 24, when she began to feel unwell.
Accompanied by her daughter Heidi Katona, 19, and her partner Paolo Margaglione, 45, she initially noticed symptoms during the performance before her condition worsened later.
After returning to her hotel and being unable to access a doctor, Kerry travelled to hospital, where she was treated as a suspected stroke patient and transferred by ambulance for further care.
She later underwent scans that ruled out a stroke, with doctors instead identifying a neurological issue linked to stress affecting signals to her face.
Kerry told the Daily Mirror: “As the day went on, I didn’t feel well. I went to the toilet and noticed my face wasn’t right. And Heidi was like, ‘Mum, what’s wrong with your face?’
“I started panicking. I discreetly left, went to my hotel and asked to see a doctor. I told the staff, ‘Something’s not right’.”
Kerry added: “I got there, and they said, ‘We’re treating this as a stroke’, so they blue-lit me in an ambulance from St Thomas’ to King’s College Hospital.
“They were shining lights in my eyes while my face and speech were getting worse. An hour ago I was watching our Molly in a play and now I’m being treated for a stroke. What the actual fk It just shows how quickly things can change.”
Kerry said she contacted her children during the incident, including Molly, Lilly, Heidi, Max and Dylan-Jorge, fearing the worst.
She said: “It really, really scared me.”
Kerry added: “I texted all my children and told them I loved them. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
Following CT scans, Kerry said doctors ruled out a stroke.
She said: “It was a suspected stroke, but luckily that was ruled out after my scans. Instead the CT scans showed there’s a part of my brain that’s broken and isn’t able to send signals to my face due to stress.”
Kerry said she continues to experience symptoms affecting her speech and face.
She added: “Every now and then, I’ll get a shooting pain in my head. And I’m noticing my speech – even though I think I’m saying something properly in my head, it doesn’t sound right out loud.”
Kerry also said she hopes to begin speech therapy.
She added: “The doctors said it will come back. But I want to have speech therapy and get the right exercises for my face.”
Kerry later travelled with her family, including Paolo and Dylan-Jorge, 12, to Spain following the incident, though she said she had yet to undergo follow-up checks.
