A star has revealed they were diagnosed with a life-threatening infection shortly after .
, who on the ITV skating competition series in 2022, revealed she secretly battled sepsis after it was initially ‘missed’ by doctors.
The 33-year-old was later diagnosed with the condition after welcoming her baby daughter with , who she said was born ‘very’ premature.
Oti said her daughter, whose name she has not publicly revealed, had also developed ‘infections’ in the womb due to the sepsis.
According to the , sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs.
The former Strictly Come Dancing star revealed her secret battle with the deadly condition for the first time on ’s .
Discussing how she felt post-partum, she recalled: ‘It was this moment of, I’ve been through this amazing birth, which was incredible. It was serene, it was happy and it was everything that I wanted. The last bit was not what I had wanted.
‘You see your child for two minutes and then they get taken away by a group of ten midwives and doctors. That’s when things start to change and start to hit you.
‘I think we didn’t hold her for about a week because she was still in an incubator with the wires, and with jaundice so she was under blue light. And she had infections because it turned out that I had sepsis.’
Oti also revealed she and Marius announced the arrival of their baby when she was nine weeks old as they wanted to take ‘time for ourselves’ after the ‘big shock’ over her ‘unexpected’ premature birth.
She continued: ‘She was in a critical condition really for the first six weeks and me and Marius just really wanted to be there mentally, physically, emotionally.
‘My mum, as well, she dropped everything thing and flew directly to England just to be with us.’
‘Things don’t always go to plan, especially when you have a little premature baby. You give birth, you hug and then the baby gets taken away.
‘The next time you see them they’re in a box and they’re wired up and they’re not well or under blue light and it gets traumatic.’
‘You have to get over giving birth and then get over, “Oh I’m not walking out of here with my baby. We’re going to stay here for a while.”‘
Oti previously revealed she suffered another ‘painful’ health condition during her pregnancy.
Sharing a video of one of her workouts, said she’s been struggling with Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD), a collection of uncomfortable symptoms caused by stiffness of the pelvic joints or the joints moving unevenly at either the back or front of the pelvis.
While it’s not harmful to the unborn baby during pregnancy, it can be painful and impact mobility.
‘The pain started really slow but at night while sleeping would intensify (I’m not wearing a belt yet but as weeks go on I definitely will),’ Oti explained in one of her posts.
Oti August last year, sharing the , and later announced her daughter’s birth on Instagram.
where they were paired as dance partners, and married in 2014.
She joined Strictly the following year, and she and Marius moved to the UK together – she has gone on to find major success in presenting, including her self-titled Saturday morning show.
Oti chose to leave Strictly in February 2022, after a
Dancing on Ice continues on Sunday at 6.30pm on ITV and ITVX.
