Sam Vanderpump ’24 hours from death’ before liver disease diagnosis

Made In Chelsea star Sam Vanderpump has revealed how waiting a matter of hours longer to receive treatment could have ended his life after his liver disease took a turn for the worst. 

The reality TV favourite, who joined the E4 series last year, took to the This Morning sofa alongside fiancée Alice Yaxley, to open up on his experience of being told he’d need to receive a liver transplant to save his life. 

Sam, 28, who was first diagnosed with liver problems at the age of four, was whisked away to hospital in December 2024 after becoming unwell. 

And last week, shock Made In Chelsea scenes saw him reveal his diagnosis that has no cure to his co-stars after his horrifying hospital trip, that saw him narrowly escape death.  

The finance app owner, who is the nephew of Vanderpump Rules star Lisa Vanderpump, explained he was told he irreversible end-stage liver disease after he and Alice, 24, mistook his symptoms for the flu and using too many painkillers. 

Opening up to the ITV show’s hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, Sam explained of his medical history: ‘I was four when I first got diagnosed – through a series of testing they worked out I had congenital hepatic fibrosis (liver disease). 

‘They always said, “you potentially may need a liver transplant”, and we went through a lot of testing and a lot of appointments, but as the years went on they went, “You’re healthy, you’re fine, you live your life normally… 

‘So much to the point that even a year before I got diagnosed, they were like, “Oh, we only need to see you every year, live your life normally”. 

‘Then all of a sudden last year I got very ill with sepsis and things took a bit of a turn.’

In December 2024, Sam became increasingly unwell but he and Alice were certain at first that he had nothing more than a bad case of the flu.

Instead, the reality TV star’s organs were shutting down after he’d developed sepsis.

Sam continued: ‘We initially thought it was the flu, I was extremely dehydrated and went through a litre of water and said to Alice, “I just can’t quench my thirst…” 

‘I ended up sleeping for two days, and Alice thought I was overdosing on codeine, just taking two much but it was days later that she realised I wasn’t right. 

‘They got me into hospital and they turned around and went, “Your organs are going into failure”.’ 

Alice added of the ‘scary’ time for the couple: ‘It was difficult to know what was going on, I feel like even doctors when we’d been to the hospital in previous weeks weren’t entirely sure what was happening.’

It still took time for Sam to get the diagnosis that he needed, after doctors were thrown off by ‘blood results that showed everything was going wrong’. 

Around three months ago, he received a ‘notification on the NHS app’ that he’d been confirmed to have irreversible end-stage liver disease that required transplant. 

Sam added: ‘I had to go through a thing of ruling everything out before they associated it to my disease, and they flooded my body with the strongest antibiotics they could find, like using an industrial cleaner on me. 

‘I finally got better after 48 hours, and I started to respond – they said it was touch and go at one point. If I’d got into hospital 24 hours later, I wouldn’t have made it.

‘I got a notification on the NHS app from the new doctor I’ve been referred to saying, “I’ve reviewed your latest scans, and looking at this, you’re going to be sent for a liver transplant assessment”.’ 

Sam confirmed that the ‘shock’ liver transplant news would likely be the only way forward for him now, adding: ‘I was quite frantic.

‘I said to him, “I don’t understand because I feel perfectly well”, I’m sitting here today and I’ll probably go for a run, I don’t look like I need a liver transplant. 

‘But he said to me, “I understand that but I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you if I thought in four or five years time that your liver would be OK”. 

‘The big thing is, liver transplants are available today, they do one a day in the UK today, and with a liver transplant I should go on to live a perfectly normal life.’

The moment Sam shared the devastating news with his Made In Chelsea co-stars Ollie Locke and Tabitha Willett was shown on the E4 reality TV show last week. 

In a heartbreaking episode that reduced viewers to tears he revealed he has been advised by specialists that, without a liver transplant, his condition is likely to be fatal.

Next month, Sam will undergo an assessment to determine whether he can be approved for a transplant.

Sam, who is expecting his first child with Alice in February, was only told of the prognosis a few days before the episode was filmed eight weeks ago.

‘The scene plays down how emotional we were. I was sobbing. Ollie was sobbing. Tabitha was sobbing,’ Sam, who was under the care of a senior hepatologist after being hospitalised with sepsis in December last year, told the Daily Mail.

‘It was so raw. I can speak to you today – have this terrible conversation – and be strong. In private, I’m still very, very emotional and you can probably see at times I’m on the edge. But I won’t break down.’

‘When you first read it, it’s terrifying,’ said Sam. ‘It says there’s a 95 per cent chance [of survival] at year one, 90 per cent at year five, 80 per cent at year ten and then it starts to drop so, after 25 years, it’s fifty-fifty.

‘You always think you’re going to live to 90-odd, but past the age of 53, I’ve got a fifty-fifty chance. That’s mental.’

Sam is determined to survive and to share his story with others. It is now his ‘dream’ to make a documentary about his experience to inspire others.

‘There’s so little information out there. If there’s, say, a 16-year-old going through this who can one day watch my documentary and see how I made it out the other side, I feel like that’s my duty.

‘If someone hasn’t registered their wishes there’s a fifty-fifty chance the family will agree to donate their organs. If they have registered, the chances rise to 90 per cent. It’s vital you register to donate your organs to save lives.’

Sam met Alice while watching the European Cup Final in July 2024 – just five months before he was admitted to hospital with the sepsis that threatened his life. 

It was Alice who called an ambulance and Sam’s mother when she noticed something was more seriously wrong.

She did not believe his condition was life-threatening but now knows his organs were beginning to fail. If she had waited another 48 hours, Sam would have died. 

Alice, who is due to marry Sam in 2027 after their child is born next year, recalled: ‘Your mind just runs wild. You think, ‘What does that mean? Will there be long term damage?

‘I never for a second thought he was going to die. Sam is a very strong, very resilient person.’

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.