Former contestant of Strictly Come Dancing, Saffron Barker, found herself in a hospital dash amid concerns she had contracted a “tropical disease”.
The social media influencer shared updates with her followers on Instagram Stories after recently becoming ill. On Thursday (October 3), Saffron shared images displaying her skin covered with a red rash, an IV drip attached to her arm, and visible bruises where medics had taken blood samples.
She expressed gratitude towards her supporters in a caption that read: “Thank you so much for all your well wishes, after a week I finally feel somewhat normal again. The doctors thought I’d caught a tropical disease from a mosquito when I was away.”
Saffron detailed her symptoms. She said: “I had all the symptoms being, rashes all over my body, headache, body aches, shooting pains in my body, temperature, sore throat and ears etc.”
In one of the three Instagram Story posts, she showed a photo of a needle and drip inserted in her arm, reassuring fans that she hadn’t been afflicted with malaria.
She added: “After getting my bloods taken it turns out I didn’t have that but my white blood cells were half the number they should be so very low and therefore my whole body was trying to fight the infection.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Sharing an image of her arm covered in rashes, Saffron explained: “This is what the rashes looked like all over my body.”
In another update, she posted a photo of herself in the bath, showing her arm with the rash diminished, and expressed relief, saying: “Today is the first day I have woken up and they are settling so feeling grateful.”
The updates come in the wake of Saffron addressing speculation around her noticeable weight loss after her trip to the US. The vlogger defended herself in an online video following her return from a six-week acting course in LA, amid a wave of rumours.
She clarified in an August video: “I think it’s quite obvious that I’ve lost a lot of weight recently, well I say recently, but it’s been a gradual thing. My diet changed when I went to LA, for all the better. I don’t eat anywhere near as much sugar as I used to eat and I never felt so much better for it in my life.”
“I’ve actually worked really hard, frickin’ hard.”
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