Throughout Season 11 of The Real Housewives of Orange County viewers watched as Vicki Gunvalson's daughter struggled with her health after moving home to Orange County from Oklahoma. Well, at the end of Monday's finale it was revealed that Briana Culberson has been diagnosed with Lupus. According to the Mayo Clinic, Lupus can be difficult to diagnose due to symptoms sometimes mimicing other ailments and it is "a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when your body's immune system attacks your own tissues and organs."
It's been a scary and long road for Culberson, especially during that Season 11 episode where she had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance when she couldn't breathe. For awhile now, both she and her mom have been trying to figure out her exact diagnosis, so I'm sure it's a relief to now know. Though, her condition and status after being diagnosed with Lupus have not been shared by Culberson publicly.
Gunvalson did reveal (via Reality Tea) on Watch What Happens Live in October that they finally determined what was causing Culberson's health issues, but she did not elabroate any further. Before that, the OG of the OC took to Facebook in July and updated her fans on Culberson's health. "For those of you that have messaged asking about Briana's health, thank you so much!" she wrote on Facebook. "It's been a long journey and we are still trying to figure everything out. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers."
Gunvalson also spoke to Entertainment Tonight in July and claimed a surgery Culberson underwent in Oklahoma did not go well: "We went immediately into the hospital. She was admitted three weeks in isolation. She had a cross-contamination, hospital-acquired infection from a hospital in Oklahoma. Very, very sick. She still is having residual effects from doctor’s error in Oklahoma. They were going to kill my daughter, basically. So, I got her out of there."
This isn't the first time Culberson has faced health issues. In 2010, she revealed on RHOC Season 5 to Gunvalson that she had several grape-size tumors on her thyroid and neck. Her mom revealed on Facebook in 2011 that Culberson had surgery that removed "her entire thyroid, numerous nodules, and lymph nodes," and it determined that her thyroid was benign, not canercous. In 2015, Culberson had another surgery to remove enlarged lymph nodes and as Gunvalson revealed on Twitter in November 2015, "Biopsy results are back -----NO CANCER detected for Briana's most recent biopsy! Thank you Jesus."
She certainly hasn't had it easy, so here's hoping only good things are ahead for Culberson, her husband, and their two little boys.
Image: Nicole Weingart/Bravo
