I’m A Celeb star Ellie Cole opens up about losing her leg aged three

Paralympian Ellie Cole has opened up to her camp mates about losing her leg aged just three, leaving fellow stars in shock.

Australian athlete Ellie Cole has opened up about losing her leg aged just three.

In scenes set to air on Monday night’s episode of Channel 10 series I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, the retired Paralympic swimmer is seen talking to fellow camp mates Skye Wheatley and Michelle Bridges about how she was diagnosed with a rare tumour when she was two-years-old.

After unsuccessful attempts to treat the Neurosarcoma that was wrapped around the nerves of her right leg, Cole’s leg was amputated above her knee.

“My parents and the doctors made the decision to amputate my leg,” Cole, 32, said.

“So many people are so scared to ask questions about disability because they’re so afraid of offending, but it really limits the information that we take in, and that’s one thing I’ve loved about the camp mates, because they ask questions.”

Ellie Cole discussed how she lost her leg aged 3.

Skye Wheatley was left stunned by Ellie’s story.

As was fellow camp mate Michelle Bridges.

Before the 17-time Paralympic medal winner went into the South African jungle, she discussed in an interview with news.com.au how important her appearance on the prime time reality show was to raise awareness for people with disabilities.

The mother-of-one, who welcomed her first child, son Felix, with partner Silvia in February, said despite being the most decorated female Paralympian in history up until her retirement in 2022, she never felt supported in the same way as Olympic champions.

“As a para athlete, probably up until Tokyo 2020, I really felt like I had to push much harder just to be seen in the same regard,” Cole said.

“I joined the Campbell sisters [Bronte and Cate] in a training program [in 2019]. Everyone loves the Campbell sisters, and so they should, they’re Australia’s swimming sweethearts, and it was an amazing opportunity to train with them.

“But I was going into that program as a 15-time Paralympic medallist, and I still had to try and fight for resources and fight for funding to be able to be supported in the same program as an Olympic athlete. That was really challenging.

“But I think the process of training in an Olympic program as a Paralympian made a lot more progress than I thought that it would.

“Swimming Australia in particular really loves supporting Paralympic athletes that want to go into Olympic training programs. So I think it’s kind of like … I suppose women in the workplace, we have to do so much more just to be recognised in the same way.”

Cole at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in 2022. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Cole is the first person with a physical disability to feature on the long-running reality show.

Mentally, she’s fit as a fiddle.

“I’m stupidly optimistic. I don’t have bad days emotionally,” she said.

Snakes? Fine. Eating cockroaches? Gross, but also fine. No technology? No worries. In fact, Cole sometimes takes a two-month hiatus from her phone, just so she can smell the roses sweeter.

The advocate feels like she can make it to the very end of the gruelling four-week experiment. Her only worry is the uncontrollable – her body letting her down.

“My bad days are physical bad days. I broke my hip a few years ago. I also broke my foot a couple of years ago too. I break bones really easy,” she said.

“Sometimes I wake up, and if it’s was like a cold morning or even just a normal day, weight bearing really hurts for about three hours.

“And the hunger. I’m a fainter if I don’t eat. And so if I started feeling a bit woozy and I didn’t get better for a few days and I thought I was going to die, [I might leave] If I haven’t had breakfast by lunch time, I feel like I’m going to die.”

However, Cole has a deeply personal motivation for pushing through when hunger hits.

Celebrities in the jungle have each selected a charity which will receive $100,000 should they be crowned King or Queen of the jungle.

Cole hopes to make it to the very end. Picture: Channel 10

Cole’s chosen charity, Challenge, supports children with cancer, and the organisation was by Cole’s side when she was diagnosed as a toddler.

She credits them for “not realising how devastating” her condition was at such a young age.

“They were a charity that really supported my family throughout the diagnosis, but then for years after,” Cole said.

“They provide opportunities for families to reconnect, because when a child is diagnosed with cancer, it completely tears their family apart. And this is a charity that gives them opportunities to spend some really good quality time together.

“And I didn’t realise when I was younger how devastating the diagnosis was, and I think that was all because of Challenge.

“They used to send these little pamphlets in the mail every couple of weeks with all these fun activities that my siblings and I could do together.

“My brothers and sisters thought it was the best thing ever that I had cancer.”

I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! airs on Channel 10 at 7.30pm