Just days after it was revealed that the Robertson Family will be returning to reality TV in a reboot of their show, Duck Dynasty, Phil Robertson‘s sons have opened up about the medical issues that Phil has been battling. According to his son Jase Robertson, Phil– who shares Jase as well as sons Willie, Alan and Jep with his wife Miss Kay— is in constant pain.
“Phil’s not doing well…we were kind of trying to figure out the diagnosis, but according to the doctors, they’re sure that he has some sort of blood disease that’s causing all kinds of problems…it’s causing problems with his entire body,” Jase said during Friday’s episode of the Unashamed with the Robertson Family podcast, before revealing another devastating diagnosis Phil has been given.
“He has early stages of Alzheimer’s,” Jase said. “If you put those things together, he’s just not doing well. He’s really struggling.”
Jase revealed that, currently, Phil can “barely walk around without crying out in pain,” and that he is “unable to sit down and literally have a conversation,” which is why he hasn’t been present on the family’s podcast in a while.
“We’re trying to do a lot of things to figure out how to make him more comfortable, and maybe help with his memory” Jase said. “So there’s a lot of different things that we’re doing…”
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Jase said that, outside of “some supernatural intervention,” the doctors all agree on Phil’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
“We’ve got a team of doctors, and then we’ve got another set of doctors who are looking at all the tests. And they’re all in agreement that there’s no curing what he has,” he said.
Phil’s son Alan said that he and his family had refrained from addressing Phil’s health with the public until they knew what he was dealing with.
“We’re far enough along in the process now to know these things as facts,” Jase said, adding that his father couldn’t even enjoy his most-recent attempt at duck hunting.
“If he’s unable to go duck hunting, that pretty much tells you all you need to know,” Jase said.
Jase detailed how having Alzheimer’s has changed his father.
“Some days it’s like, ‘Oh, he’s coming back’ and then the next day you walk in and he’s like, ‘Now which one are you?'”
Still, Jase said Phil’s doctors are optimistic that they can do some things to slow down the disease’s progression.
“We’re not being doom and gloom here,” he said. “It just took a long period of time to kind of get a diagnosis. Because my dad is hurting all over, he’s losing weight and he’s having this memory problem, so it’s kind of hard to figure out, is one thing causing another? It’s really those two things happening simultaneously that have produced where he’s at…he’s just not able to do much and he’s just hurting.”
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Phil’s granddaughter Sadie Robertson— who appeared on the original run of ‘Duck Dynasty’ took to Instagram to give her thoughts on her family going public about Phil’s diagnosis.
“Seeing all of the articles go out yesterday about my grandpa’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis has kept my tears flowing… something about it being public makes it even more real,” she wrote. “I’ve been thinking today about our life being so public…. In moments like this, it can feel overwhelming for such bad news to be such public news. But you know what? I’m genuinely so thankful my family chose to make our life public because of how incredible it is that so many people know my grandpa!
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“Y’all got to see the way he lived his life! I’m so glad that so many people have been able to learn from his faith and his love for his family.
I’m so proud to be his granddaughter…”
‘Duck Dynasty’ ran for 11 seasons from 2012-2017 on A&E. It is unknown if Phil will appear on ‘Duck Dynasty’ once the show is rebooted.
You can listen to the entire episode of the Unashamed podcast below.
RELATED STORY: Former ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Willie Robertson Says His Family is Returning to TV: “Felt Like the Time Was Right”
(Photos: Instagram)
2 Responses
He’s earned a better exit than he’s getting, that’s for sure.
This is sad to read about. I’ll pray for this family.