Geordie beauty Scarlett Moffatt has revealed she feared she had leukaemia when she was just 11 years old.
The presenter opened up about the terrifying incident in her autobiography, Me Life Story: Sofa So Good!.
The star revealed the effect it had on her parents was “heartbreaking”, especially on her dad who battled a rare skin cancer just four years before.
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Scarlett said she was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a facial paralysis, as a child which can sometimes be “the early manifestation of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia”.
Opening up about the incident she explained: “We were all crammed in a very small hospital room when my dad started to cry.
“I had just been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a facial paralysis.
“The doctor said to me: ‘If you can take your socks and shoes off, Miss Scarlett O’Hara, I just need to explain something to your parents about why we need to do some blood tests. It’s nothing to be scared of, it will only feel like a scratch.”
“‘We need to do these tests as, on rare occasions, Bell’s palsy can be an early manifestation of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.'”
The I’m A Celebrity winner went on to reveal she didn’t quite understand why her parents got so upset because she was young.
She added: “I had no idea what any of the words meant. It’s only now I understand why my parents got so upset. My dad had recovered from a rare skin cancer just four years before.
“So the thought of his little girl having tests for that awful C-word – cancer – was heartbreaking. My dad picked up my sock, held it to his eye and started to cry.
“‘Come on, Dad, my socks don’t smell that bad,’ I smiled weakly, trying to cheer him up. Even though I was nervous and confused at what was happening, I just wanted to hear my dad laugh, not cry.”
Despite the terrifying ordeal Scarlett revealed that just three hours later the doctor revealed Scarlett was “fit and healthy”.
She added: “But only three hours or so later, the doctor came back in to tell us amazing news: ‘Your daughter is fit and healthy – other than the unfortunate case of Bell’s palsy, of course’.
“‘I’m going to give her strong steroids and it should have cleared within three months.’”
This comes after the much-loved presenter lifted the lid on her crippling anxiety condition, which can leave her feeling terrified and tearful.
The star, 26, spent a lot of time on the streets as the host of Channel 4 dating show Streetmate.
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But she revealed that she was scared of being attacked with acid – and on occasions has been unable to leave her own house.
She told The Mirror: “Recently, my anxiety has been really bad, especially after seeing those acid attacks on the news.
“I’d cry for two hours in the morning, because I had it in my head that people would see the [Streetmate] camera and that would make me a target.
“Sometimes, I would pass out… It became a daily struggle.”
“I would get to my front door, cry, then go back and try to pump myself up again,” she added. “Sometimes, I stayed inside all day.”