Tarek El Moussa is no stranger to serious health scares.
the HGTV star talks in his new book about the time complications from surgery nearly caused his bladder to “explode.”
The house flipping expert experienced turbulent health problems before the incident even happened. In a short period of time in 2013, he was also diagnosed with thyroid and testicular cancer — which he treated with several surgeries and radioactive iodine therapy. And less than nine months after finishing cancer treatment, he slipped several discs in his lower back, pinching his sciatic nerve.
In his new book, Turn Your Life Around: How to Find Opportunity in Adversity—In Real Estate, Business, and Life (out now), detailed taking “eight to ten” painkillers a day, including Vicodin and Dilaudid, which ultimately led him to consider back surgery the best path to recovery. Although he describes the operation itself in the book as “without incident”, he says that the complications that followed could have been fatal.
“The catheter they put in me at the hospital caused my urethra to close. It should have been checked before I was sent home, but it wasn’t. The urethra has closed,” it says.
The Flip or flop the star recalls sneaking off to the toilet only to lean “against the wall in agony: I couldn’t produce anything. No matter what I did, I couldn’t feel any relief. I couldn’t go to the toilet.”
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“By 6:30 a.m. I hadn’t slept all night and was screaming. It was obvious my bladder was going to explode, which was something I hadn’t thought about during the night,” he writes. Realizing that I might actually die, I grabbed the phone and called 911.”
After being taken to the hospital by ambulance, El Moussa says doctors discovered a complete blockage due to swelling in his urethra. After that was resolved, he still had to stay in the hospital for another week due to complications.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE last month, El Moussa opened up about the stress of his complex health battles.
Heidi Gutman-Guillaume
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“I got my first cancer in 2013. I fought cancer in ’13 and ’14 and had surgeries and then I was better for a few months,” he said. “And then I’m in ’15. injured his back. I could barely walk for a year. And then after that I had that horrible surgery with complications. So for four years I just lived through hell.”
Fortunately, he has been on the road to recovery for some time now. He overcame his steroid addiction, which was also caused by his injury and its aftermath, and recovered. His marriage to Hall ended in 2016, but he has since remarried Selling Sunset alum Heather Rae El Moussa and welcomed his third child, Tristan, in January 2023. Tarek and Hall also have a daughter, Taylor, 13, and a son Brayden, 8.
Meeting Heather at a 4th of July 2019 party was “my defining moment,” he says. “Since that day, I just haven’t looked back and I’m so happy and excited about the family I have today.”
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Source: HIS Education