Last December, music icon Celine Dion revealed she had been diagnosed with the rare and progressive condition stiff person syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes the body to attack its own nerve cells.
Patients tend to lose control over their bodies due to the disorder, which currently has no cure and is so rare that research is particularly slow.
Now, Celine’s older sister, Claudette, shared a heartbreaking update with fans after the singer was forced to cancel her last tour as the disease took hold.
The 74-year-old told 7 Jours that the French Canadian singer is “working hard” to keep the condition at bay but “doesn’t have control over her muscles” anymore.
She assured fans that the Hollywood star wants “to return to the stage” but admitted it’s not yet clear in what capacity this will actually be possible.
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Stiff person syndrome, or SPS, can leave patients struggling to walk or talk due to the muscle stiffness and spasms that it causes, with some sufferers living a statue-like existence during the progressive disorder’s final stages.
It’s believed to only affect one in a million people with women making up the majority of diagnosed patients.
Claudette pointed out that the disorder could have disastrous consequences both for Celine’s career and life as she pointed out that it targets muscles in the body, adding: “The vocal cords are muscles, and the heart is also a muscle.”
Despite pulling the “top researchers in the field” to help, Celine has seen little improvement in her health over the past year since making her diagnosis public over Instagram.
However, fans are clearly far from giving up on the All by Myself hitmaker as Claudette revealed her family’s charity, Foundation Maman Dion, has been inundated with support, love and prayers for her sister.
Claudette shared: “She gets so many messages, presents and blessed crucifixes.”
Rumors earlier this year claimed the progressive disease had seen the Grammy winner becoming wheelchair bound, but her sister was quick to shut down the false claims.
Claudette highlighted to Showbizz.net at the time that while the condition was taking a devastating toll on Celine’s body, she still has “the joy of living” and the mental strength to “get through this”.