Katie Price breaks down over fears for Harvey's future
The mum-of-5 is worried she'll 'let him down' if she puts her son in respite care
If Katie Price has a soft spot, there's no doubt it's for her son Harvey. The mum-of-5 proved that when she broke down in tears admitting that looking after the 13-year-old is a "challenge" when talking to psychologist Dr Claudia Bernat for her new show Channel 5 show Katie Price: In Therapy, showing this Friday at 9pm.
The mum-of-5 explained that Harvey, who suffers from Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), can have mood swings that stop her from doing things with her other children.
"People tell me it's normal and so many use respite to have a break with their kids but I won't do it, I don't want to leave him," she said. "I won't do respite with him yet. I don't want to feel like I am letting him down by letting him go while I go and have fun with the others."
Harvey, whose father is former Manchester United footballer Dwight Yorke, has septo-optic dysplasia, which causes blindness and growth hormone deficiency. He also has Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a genetic disorder that means he is likely to eat to excess and is prone to obesity and diabetes; as well as ADHD and autism.
Katie admitted that caring for the 13-year-old has an impact on her other children Junior, 10, Princess, 7, Jett, 2, and 1-year-old Bunny.
'Junior wants me to watch him play football on a Sunday but he understands that I can't if Harvey doesn't want to go. If he doesn't want to go he will smash the car up. And I don't want to leave Harvey with someone so I can go," she explained. "If you have a child with disability your life does change, it's not easy if my other children want to go to a theme park and Harvey doesn't want to go, it might ruin their fun."
As well as not using respite care for her son, Katie also refuses to let him board at his specialist school. Instead, Harvey travels 50 miles a day from their home in West Sussex to the south London school. "I would never over my dead body board him," she said. "I wouldn't like it and I know he wouldn't like it."
But despite the complications of caring for Harvey, Katie says she wouldn't have it any other way. "Harvey is a challenge, it's full on, people don't realise but I would never change it, ever," she said.
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