Amanda Keller's emotional family update
Amanda Keller has shared an emotional family update while live on-air on the Jonesy and Amanda show on Monday.
The radio star has shared an update on how her husband's battle with Parkinson's disease has affected them, as they try to plan their son's 21st birthday party.
“It was a hard week for me leading up to it because I wanted to put a slide show together to play throughout the night,” she told her co-host Jonesy.
“And normally that is Harley’s domain. He has been the guy who will make the kid’s birthday invitations. He’s very creative. He will work on the computer to do this funky stuff. Normally, he would have done all of that. And with the way things are with Harley at the moment, he’s got Parkinson’s disease and things are just hard.”
Keller, who has been married to her husband since 1989, revealed that he had been privately battling with the disease for seven years, on October 2023.
She then went on to share how the disease has affected her husband's ability to perform tasks that he was once good at.
“So that kind of skill set isn’t with him anymore. He doesn’t have dementia or any of that stuff, but that stuff’s hard for him to do now.
"And so I was going through a whole lot of photos on my phone and seeing photos of when he was well, and it was a very emotional week leading up to the 21st.”
She then went on to confess that the situation had made her feel “lonely” and that her heart broke for her husband, who she thought couldn't attend the birthday party.
“Leaving the house to go to Jack’s party, I thought, you know, it’s not right that Harley can’t come. Yeah, I really felt lonely thinking it’s our son’s 21st, but how hard it is for Harley and how much he would have loved to have been there,” she continued.
But her husband surprised her, and managed to attend the event despite his ill health.
“So there we are, having a great time. The speeches are about to start and my friend Kate said to me, There’s Harley. And I looked over. And I know what it cost him to be there.
"He and our friend Pam and our driver friend Cole had conspired to get Harley there for the speeches. And it was so moving.”
Keller, who was tearing up at this moment, proudly added: “And a lot of people were shocked because they hadn’t seen Harley for a while. But I know what it cost him to get there. And he said to me, how could I not be here?”
Image: Jonesy and Amanda show/ news.com.au