Bella Hadid & ‘Real Housewives’ Yolanda Foster Share Horrific Lyme Disease Battles


Yolanda Foster, also known as Yolanda Hadid, seemed to have it all. But as the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star has revealed, she has been struggling with Lyme disease for years. Now Yolanda is sharing her battle in a book, reported ET.

Believe Me: My Battle with the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease, set for February 2017, will reveal how she fought back against the condition, using pictures as well as descriptions. In her book, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 52, also explains why she chose to go public with her pain, according to St. Martin’s Press.

“While doctors continued to dismiss her pain and friends debated her health diagnosis, Yolanda realized her mission and higher purpose of her journey is to use her newfound platform to educate, and bring awareness to the stigma surrounding chronic Lyme…to bring hope to other sufferers who have been misdiagnosed and battling the invisible disability of chronic disease.”

In addition to Yolanda, her daughter Bella Hadid has dealt with Lyme disease. Bella wrote about her mother’s health struggles while revealing how she has dealt with the illness as well, reported the Daily Mail.

Yolanda Foster and Bella Hadid share their Lyme disease battles.
Yolanda Foster and Bella Hadid share their Lyme disease battles. [Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images]

Turning to Instagram to share her experience, Bella shared her Lyme disease war in reference to Yolanda’s Believe Me: My Battle with the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease book. Now 19, Hadid admitted that she has felt powerless as she saw her mother’s pain.

But in suffering from Lyme disease herself, Bella also experienced compassion from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star. And that empathy has been mutual. Hadid remembered taking her mom to the hospital to get a shot at 3 a.m.

Beyond the pain and the fear that she felt, Bella also reveals her pride in watching her mother’s determination to persevere.

“I am also SO proud of my mom @yolanda.hadid today and everyday. This book marks such an incredible day for you,” wrote Hadid. “I have seen you in bed, struggling for the past 5 years of our lives, thinking to myself ‘why would this happen to such an angel?'”

Bella recalled her tears, which came from her awareness that she could not prevent her mother’s pain. But the 19-year-old also expressed her heartbreak that there were those who doubted Yolanda’s health condition.

Bella Hadid recalls the empathy that her mother showed for her Lyme disease struggles.
Bella Hadid recalls the empathy that her mother showed for her Lyme disease struggles. [Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Global Lyme Alliance]

“I would cry to myself knowing that there was nothing I could do to help and that there were people going against you and what you are/were going through,” added Hadid.

Bella described just how much her mother suffered as well, recalling occasions when the 52-year-old was so ill that she could not move.

“Incidents where you would be so sick, not being able to move your bones/body, and I would have to drive you to the hospital at 3 am so I could see you get a shot of something just like every other day you would have to do treatment.”

To Hadid, the multiple doctor visits, labs, and testing rooms that her mother has experienced all add up to her desire to discover a cure for Lyme disease.

“You have been in more doctors labs and testing rooms every SINGLE day, then I have ever seen in my life… To find a CURE for people around the world,” added Bella.

Hadid revealed that she has battled Lyme disease herself for the last two years. Because of the disease as well as what she described as “co-infections,” Bella at times had to stop pursuits that she enjoyed, from riding her horses to school to work. Through it all, the young woman felt that only her mother had true empathy for what she experienced.

“You are the only person that would believe me and understand what I was going through.”

Referencing her mom’s book, Hadid expressed her belief that it will empower others to feel that they are not alone in their battles with Lyme disease. Yolanda was initially diagnosed with her condition in 2012.

Since her diagnosis, Foster has been vocal about Lyme disease. She has used her platform on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as well as social media to describe her treatment as well as her health battle. Despite the detailed descriptions that she provided of her illness, some other cast members of the reality TV show expressed doubt about Lyme disease and its impact.

Yolanda was the one who first shared that of her children, both Bella and Anwar Hadid were struggling with Lyme disease. Known to be an infection resulting from bacteria spread by an infected deer tick bite, the symptoms range widely. Sufferers may deal with chronic fatigue, fevers, joint and muscle pain, and other symptoms.

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Global Lyme Alliance]

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