Brandi Glanville feels 'embarrassed' by GoFundMe page to help cover her medical bills
Brandi Glanville feels 'embarrassed' by a GoFundMe page launched by her friend to help cover her medical bills as she battles a mystery illness that has caused facial disfigurement.
Brandi Glanville feels "embarrassed" after her friend launched a GoFundMe page to help cover the star's mounting medical bills for her ongoing health battle.
The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, who has been battling a mystery health condition for more than two years, with the illness recently causing facial disfigurement, is facing $7,000 a week in medical bills - despite having insurance.
Although Brandi, 53, was reluctant to accept Gina Rodriguez's help, her friend told her that she had "no choice" but to set up a fundraiser to help pay for the ongoing treatment.
On the latest episode of Brandi and James Maas' Unfiltered podcast, she said: "I’m on all of this crazy medication, [and] even with my insurance, it’s $7,000 a week. Then, I have creditors calling me all day.
"[My friend], Gina, started a GoFundMe for me. I’m embarrassed, honestly, ‘cause I don’t like to ask for help, and I never thought I would do this.
"And she's like, 'You have no choice.'
"If I stop paying, I won’t get my medication, and then I won’t make any progress. Right now, I paid half, and I still owe them. I’m just, like, I’m spent. I don’t want anyone to see it, but I don’t know what to do."
James told his teary co-host that the GoFundMe page, which, at the time of writing, has raised over $7,100 of its $28,000 target, is "not embarrassing".
He then claimed: "What’s embarrassing is the whole medical system, and the fact that you were allowed, when you have health insurance, to pay all of this money to doctors that they’ve referred you that have made you feel at times like killing yourself or self-mutilating because there was no other option."
James added: "You need a GoFundMe. You’re the last person that wants to ask for help. When you don’t even have money … you’ll take me out to a fancy dinner or something like that, and I realise it's on a credit card last minute."
He continued: "You’re just the most giving person, and you don’t want to take anything from anyone."
Brandi noted that she "can't work" because of her ongoing health woes.
Crying, the TV personality said: "I just feel like a loser because I feel like I definitely hit rock bottom, and I’m embarrassed. I just never thought I would do this. … Gina did it for me. I know, like, she’s looking out for me."
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday (08.09.26), Brandi revealed that she has been diagnosed with "highly resistant ESBL Klebsiella and Enterobacter with biofilm, Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever), Demodex dermatitis and Mononucleosis".
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ESBL Klebsiella is a kind of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Mayo Clinic says Valley fever is a fungal infection, while Cleveland Clinic describes Demodex as “a type of mite that lives in human hair follicles, usually on your face".
In a video shared on Instagram on Tuesday, Brandi said she had a large, "hard as a rock" fungal ball in her face.
Brandi noted that her "fungal ball" in her face needs to be removed, along with "metals from old dental work out of my mouth".
She added: "My breast implants need to come out, and I’m looking at 4–6 months of daily IV treatment.”
The treatments have "not been easy", and they have cost Brandi between $3,300 and $6,000 a month after health insurance.
In June, she revealed a tumour had been discovered in her face.
Speaking on an episode of the Unfiltered podcast, Brandi said: "I found out I have a benign tumour in one of my lymph nodes in my face.
"That could be why the fluid is going around my face and why I’m having a hard time… I can wear make-up for, like, 15 minutes and then I have to take it off.”
Brandi has previously wondered if what she had thought was a facial parasite was due to her breast implants rupturing and spreading infection through her body, while doctors have claimed it's "just scar tissue".
Brandi has pointed out she hasn't "had a facelift yet", but now she might have more answers.
She went to see a dermatologist specialising in cancer after finding a lump near her jaw.
She revealed: "He did a blood test and it came back on the blood test.
"And like I'm thinking I've had so many labs done… I’m talking tens of thousands of dollars in labs.
"Why would this lab just now show this? I can tell you that this lump has always been here."
