According to recent reports, “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson is battling several different health challenges. During a recent episode of “Unashamed with the Robertson Family,” Phil’s son Jase revealed that his 78-year-old father was in the “early stages of Alzheimer’s.” Reportedly, the extent of the condition renders Robertson “unable to sit down and have a conversation.”
Jase revealed, “It’s like accelerated, and it’s causing problems with his entire body. And he has early stages of Alzheimer’s. So, if you put those things together, he’s really not doing well. He’s struggling.” Furthermore, another one of Phil’s sons, Willie Robertson, explained to Fox News Digital that he is “battling a lot of different things right now.”
“He’s got a blood disorder, and then he’s got the mental issues that could be early [on-set] Alzheimer’s … and probably some ministrokes because of his blood,” according to Willie. “And so, it could be some stroke stuff happening, that has happened. So, we’re still checking on all that. But then he also has a back issue, he’s fractured his back and that’s where the pain’s at. So, he’s kind of battling many different things at the same time.”
The Duck Dynasty star noted that the biggest day-to-day struggle for Phil is managing the pain he experiences. “Especially in any situation where he’s getting up from the seated position or laying position, [it’s] super stressful for him, too, and very painful,” he said. “We’ve got several other things we’re looking at, trying some different medications.
Willie continued, “And, again, it’s a little bit more difficult with the pain issue, with the back, because that seems to dominate a lot of just his day-to-day is just from that, so we’re trying to get his back fixed up so that he can at least move around. We’re trying several different things. We’ve seen many doctors and [are] just getting the best care we can and best things that we can and trying to figure out what’s next.”
Illustrating the struggles with the mental condition Phil is enduring, Willie said, “It’s hard with the mental stuff.” He added, “It’s hard to determine exactly what these causes are, especially with early signs, it’s hard to determine brain damage from stroke or is that Alzheimer’s?” Suggested the condition is genetic, he said, “I know that’s in their family. Other siblings he has have had some of the same type of things as well. This has happened with just about all of his siblings that have passed away.”
Highlighting that Phil is suffering from multiple medical conditions, Willie continued, “There’s a couple of issues that we’re trying to get to the bottom of, which is maybe where some of that’s coming from. It could be the pain, but also with the blood disorder that has created some things that could be dealing with that as well.”
However, in the midst of Phil’s struggles, he leans on his Christian faith, knowing that the ultimate battle has already been one by Christ and that the best does not occur on this side of eternity. Willie noted, “His faith is such an important part of his life. And life is short and temporary, and he’s always known that. And we’ve always had such an eternal perspective, really, on life itself. We’re not sad, we realize this is, you know, these are things that happen on this earth, and we deal with them.”
Watch the Robertson’s discuss Phil’s health here:
Featured image credit: By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38720735
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