Former Little People, Big World star, Jeremy Roloff is counting his blessings after being in the thick of an eye-opening experience concerning his health. On Saturday, the TLC alum took to Instagram to reveal in a microblog captioned alongside a photo of himself, that he had recently been hospitalized and underwent a surgery he had been putting off for a number of years.
View this post on Instagram
“Yesterday I had my first surgery. Inguinal hernia surgery,” Roloff wrote in the post. “I’ve had a hernia for the past few years, but thought I could live with it in order to avoid surgery, so I ignored it. However, over the last several months I’ve been having some increasing health concerns, specifically severe lower back pain and chronic shoulder pain.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Roloff adds that he’s come to realize he had been “subconsciously protecting [his] hernia with poor posture and lack of core strength.”
“I’ve pretty much eliminated all physical exercise too which has increased the problem because of muscle loss which has me walking weird as well,” he continued. “I’ve been ignoring my health and it all came to a head when just a few days ago I threw out my back after sneezing. Embarrassing, right? All said, I’m considering this a turn in my health journey. I have a goal to be in the best shape of my life by 32.”
Roloff concluded his message by sharing, “Health is something that needs continual attention or else it unnoticeably fades – like most things in life. Time to put some attention back on personal health!”
Hundreds of fans took to the comments section to share their well wishes for recovery and personal stories of relation to his surgery in the post that has since raked up more than 25,000 likes.
“Hope you heal up quickly!! Enjoy the down time recovering too. You’ve got good caretakers,” one fan wrote with a heart emoji.
“Great goal. I’m realizing as I’m older now that I didn’t do enough if that when I was younger. I now know taking care of our health when we’re younger is so important!!! Good for you for focusing on yourself and I hope you feel better soon,” added another.
“Feel better and be careful recuperation is the most important part,” wrote another.
“Wow! I had no idea all those other things were going on besides the hernia. Goal: more self care, you have a lot of playing with kids left in your future. Prayers for speedy and full recovery,” another fan added.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a hernia occurs an internal organ or another body part pushes through an opening in the wall of a muscle of tissue that normally contains it. Most hernias occur within the abdominal cavity, situated between the chest and hips. With Roloff now on the road to recovery, he has time to focus on his growing family.
Roloff and his wife, Audrey are expecting their second child, a baby boy in 2020. The pair announced the exciting news this past August in a post shared to social media, followed by a sweet gender-reveal. “We’re so excited! We are surprised and can’t wait to be a family of four,” she wrote at the time.
Photo credit: Tibrina Hobson / Getty Images