Credit: Instagram
Jeana Keough’s daughter, Kara Keough-Bosworth, offered a heartbreaking update on the Real Housewives of Orange County alum’s cancer battle after a week-long visit with her in Southern California.
Months after Jeana, 71, confirmed she had been diagnosed with tongue cancer, Kara, 37, said that she was “struggling” as she remained reliant on a feeding tube while undergoing intense treatments that she seemingly wished she hadn’t agreed to.
“Mom’s struggling. She’s still not getting nutrition orally except maybe a few bites and then she gets frustrated with the effort and the lack of taste,” Kara told Page Six on October 21, adding that a feeding tube remains Jeana’s “primary source of nutrition.”
“[She is] feeling a lot of regret due to the impacts of her treatment,” Kara continued. “I think she just wishes she didn’t do any treatment. [It’s been] very hard. She still is sleeping a lot and having a lot of coughing fits that cause her to vomit. She’s doing twice weekly speech and swallow therapy, but we still have a long way to go.”
In late July, Jeana told Page Six in an email that she was expected to be on a feeding tube for two to six months amid her treatment and had been given a 40 to 60 percent cure rate within five years.
According to the outlet, Jeana has undergone “tongue dissection, surgery to insert the feeding tube, a neck dissection to remove dozens of nodes, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy,” and experienced malnourishment and dehydration.
Jeana was also treated for a blood clot and infection in her leg.
As RHOC fans may have heard, Jeana first began experiencing symptoms related to her health last year, signaling a painful sore on her tongue, which her dentist thought was nothing more than an injury from a jagged tooth that needed to be filed. But after being referred to an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor, Jeana scheduled a biopsy and learned that the sore was no small issue.
“That doctor took one look in my mouth and said, ‘That’s cancer,’” Jeana previously shared.
According to Kara, she and her siblings, including brothers Shane Keough, 40, and Colton Keough, 34, feel that she wasn’t diagnosed early enough.
Jeana Keough was featured on The Real Housewives of Orange County in its first five seasons.