Learn About Chris Bumstead’s Autoimmune Disorder, a Not-So-Rare Condition That 25 Million Americans Suffer From Including Phil Heath’s Wife

The sport of bodybuilding requires a lot of dedication and determination from the athlete’s end. However, the sport is also extremely physically challenging and requires the athletes to be in their best health in order to excel at a competitive stage. Any pre-existing health issues can deteriorate a bodybuilder’s rankings as it did back in 2018 with Chris Bumstead. 

As his legs began to swell up during his training sessions, just six weeks out of Mr. Olympia 2018, he got hospitalized and found out that he was suffering from an autoimmune disease called IGA Nephropathy. The immune system severely attacks even the healthy cells of one’s organs and tissues if an individual is suffering from an autoimmune disease. With that being said, let’s take a look at what the disease actually is and how Bumstead and others are fighting it.

Autoimmune diseases: A not-so-rare disease

Due to spending six weeks in a hospital bed, Chris Bumstead could not utilize a long period in which he could have trained much better back in 2018. As a result, he came second on D-day. Even though he did win the title four times consecutively after that, the loss felt personal to him back then. Talking about the disease, Bumstead stated, “It’s something I will be dealing with for my entire life. It doesn’t go away, there’s no cure for it right now.” 

The disease is extremely common among Americans. As revealed by Phil Heath during a conversation with Dr. Gabrielle Iyon, disclosed that nearly 25 million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases. While there are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases, they can affect almost any part of your body. “Autoimmune diseases, which doc, I did not know that over 25 million f**** Americans has 80+ autoimmune diseases,” Heath said, revealing how common the disease was.

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Jada Pinkett Smith, Hollywood star Will Smith’s wife, is also suffering from alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune disease of the skin that can cause hair loss. Despite being diagnosed with such a fatal disease, Bumstead continued to win four titles and is currently preparing for his fifth title shot. But how did the treatment go? Let’s take a look. 

CBum’s troublesome treatment 

Finding out that he is suffering from an autoimmune disease that targets the kidneys was a difficult phase for the Canadian bodybuilder. Shaken to the core by this news, he had to undergo dialysis. The whole recovery process was tough and challenging for Bumstead, both mentally and physically. 

Talking about this, he revealed back in the day, “They put in a long needle and slowly froze it close to my kidney…It goes in and touches the tip of your kidney. That kind of shoots like a gun.”

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Despite the setback, Bumstead did not let this get the better of him. He still displayed immense courage and stepped onto the stage. Managing to get the second position in 2018, Chris ensured to win the title four times straight after that. As he is preparing for his 5th win, we wish the Canadian bodybuilding legend all the best for this year’s Olympia. What are your views on this? Let us know in the comments.