Coleen Rooney's sister's brave health battle and 'final sleepover' with distraught family

Coleen Rooney's little sister Rosie died when she was just 14 and the I'm A Celeb star, who tried to stay strong for her parents, describes losing a child as the 'worst thing that could ever happen to anyone'

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here is in full swing, with Coleen Rooney one of the highest-profile campmates this time around.

In emotional scenes last night, the WAG talked about her late sister Rosie McLoughlin, who died from a lifelong illness at the age of 14.

Coleen spoke about her beloved sibling after boxer Barry McGuigan dissolved into tears when he recalled his late daughter Danika's devastating death from bowel cancer in 2019, aged 33, after she overcome leukaemia as a child. His words prompted Coleen, 38, to speak of the devastating effect Rosie's passing had on her own parents, saying she had tried to keep her feelings to herself in a bid to be strong for them.

"Even when Rosie died, I kept it together for my mum and dad," she told campmates Dean McCullough and Oti Mabuse. "She was 14 when she died, she'd be 26 now. It's hard to lose a child, I've always said that… So we're lucky to have what we've got."

Rosie was born with Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic neurological disorder that leads to severe impairments. The condition tends to affect girls and shortens a person's lifespan, affecting their ability to talk, walk, eat and breathe.

Coleen's parents Colette, a nursery nurse and Tony, a bricklayer, had adopted Rosie when she was two. "She struggled," said the star in her Disney+ documentary. "She couldn't walk and she couldn't talk. She would be in pain and sick but she would still put a smile on her face.

"Rett syndrome is a genetic disorder, sometimes she used to force a laugh out, I think to make me mum and dad happy. Gradually her brain wasn't functioning and she couldn't eat anymore, she couldn't crawl anymore."

Rosie ended up in intensive care several times as she grew more and more sick before she returned to her home in Liverpool for her final days. The loving family had "one last sleepover" before throwing a party to celebrate Rosie's life. Rosie died in January 2013.

"To lose a child is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone," said Coleen, who is the oldest of four siblings. "But when you look back now, she gave us so many good years of happiness and love."

In May 2009, the campmate described how her family coped with looking after Rosie once her health began to get worse. "Today Rosie can't walk or talk, she wrote. "She can't eat, so she's fed through a tube that goes into her stomach.

"She has good days and bad days and her health can change from hour to hour. One minute she can be laughing and happy; the next she can be having a fit."

The same year, the McLoughlin family including Coleen made a pilgrimage to Lourdes to pray for Rosie's health.