40 Celebrities With Chronic Illnesses, Medical Conditions

The former heavyweight champ influenced such notable wrestlers as Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura. Unfortunately, according to Graham, an exposure to tainted blood in the wrestling ring led to a diagnosis of hepatitis C, resulting in a liver transplant in 2002. Knievel had subsequent health problems, including diabetes, pulmonary fibrosis, and strokes, but continued doing advertising endorsements. He died of natural causes at the age of 69 in 2007, almost 20 years after his liver transplant. Until Allman’s death from liver cancer in 2017, he worked with the American Liver Foundation, raising awareness of hepatitis C screening, testing, and treatment. When rock and roll legend Gregg Allman discovered he had hepatitis C in 1999, rather than seek treatment, he waited.

Anthony Anderson: Type 2 Diabetes

• The five-year survival rate for liver transplant recipients was almost 75%.
• Since Hepatitis C is primarily a bloodborne virus, infections are likely to occur due to unsafe injections, unscreened blood transfusions, injection drug use, and sexual practices that lead to the exposure of blood.
• The former heavyweight champ influenced such notable wrestlers as Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura.
• Having shed 30 pounds in a year and finding it hard to concentrate at work, the congressman sought treatment.
• Screening for liver disease raises another set of challenges, said University of Toronto hepatologist Jordan Feld.
• Take Jimi Hendrix, for example, the iconic guitarist whose groundbreaking music and performances left an indelible mark on rock and roll.
• He had a successful liver transplant in 1995, after which he served as an advocate for organ donation and transplantation.

Typically, the life expectancy for a person with cirrhosis of the liver is around 2–12 years. Cirrhosis of the liver is a serious condition, causing scarring and permanent damage to the liver. Life expectancy depends on the stage and type of liver cirrhosis, but it may vary between roughly 2–12 years. The liver is a large organ involved in many processes needed to sustain life. These include storing glycogen, the short-term energy carbohydrate; making bile required for fat digestion; making the clotting factors the blood requires to form clots, and processing any drugs, alcohol or toxins to remove them.

Complications after liver transplant

The late daredevil thrilled audiences in the 1960s and ’70s with his motorcycle jumps and daring stunts. With 35 broken bones over his career, Knievel was no stranger to hospital stays. He reportedly believed he caught hepatitis C from a blood transfusion during one of those visits. Aerosmith’s front man, who used to live celebrities living with cirrhosis the infamous rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle to the max, was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2003.

Naomi Judd: She Changed How America Looked at Hepatitis and Liver Disease

“Because transplant recipients are on anti-rejection medications, which weakens the immune system’s response, they have a higher risk of developing an infection,” said Shah. Dr. Malay Shah, surgical director of the liver transplant program at UK HealthCare in Lexington, Kentucky, told Healthline that once recipients of a liver transplant get past one year, they tend to do well long-term. Elaine was a journalist, a profession where much-romanticized pub crawls are legendary.

General Health

The greatest risk after a liver transplant is transplant failure, in which the body rejects the new liver. This risk can be reduced through the use of anti-rejection medications, or immunosuppressants. “If this surgery didn’t provide you with a good chance of living a long time, then nobody would be doing liver transplants for a living,” he said.

• The singer, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 16, has been a leading voice in raising awareness for Type 1 diabetes with the charity organization Beyond Type 1.
• Elaine was the life of the party, the girl who urged you to stay for just one more drink, a journalist who could splash life into a good story.
• She also encourages others through speaking about the importance of hope in the face of serious health conditions.
• “This comes about over decades of injury to the liver, and often times it’s silent,” Im says.

The scars replace healthy tissue and block blood flow, which slows the processing of nutrients, hormones and toxins. When this happens, the liver struggles to eliminate harmful substances and produce protein, so it starts to lose function. He believes newer ultrasound technology that enables specialists to assess the extent of scarring with a three-minute scan of the liver could improve diagnosis — and help motivate patients to make lifestyle changes. They may not realize that the liver also can be destroyed by infection with hepatitis C or B, as well as by a buildup of fat in the liver that is linked to the modern epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

What are the 4 stages of cirrhosis?

• With much sadness she is gone, but what she set in motion lives on to benefit millions.
• Black transplant recipients were more likely than white recipients to be insured through Medicaid, and less likely to have private insurance.
• The liver is vital to many processes in the body, including filtering toxins from the blood, making proteins for blood clotting, and digesting fats to produce energy.
• For people with cirrhosis, there is a close link between life expectancy and the number of symptoms and complications they experience.
• The scars replace healthy tissue and block blood flow, which slows the processing of nutrients, hormones and toxins.
• Despite experiencing these health issues, many of these celebrities are using their platforms to raise money and awareness for their illnesses.

The late Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole only learned she had hepatitis C after decades of unknowingly living with the disease in her system. She had likely contracted hepatitis C during her years of heroin use in her youth. Judd has continued to raise awareness and money for hepatitis C research. She also encourages others through speaking about the importance of hope in the face of serious health conditions. Diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2000, he was successfully treated and became virus-free. Kennedy Lawford campaigned worldwide to raise awareness about addiction and hepatitis C.

Naomi Judd

Cirrhosis is normally picked up as part of testing for other illnesses, as it has few symptoms, if any, until the late stages. The diagnosis of cirrhosis can be indicated by a full medical history, an abdominal exam and blood tests including liver function tests. These liver function tests look at the levels of liver enzymes ALT and AST; their levels are raised in inflammation. Blood tests will also look at your blood clots and the level of creatinine in your blood, as these are good measures of how well the liver is producing the things it needs to.