Roy Keane's daughter Caragh has admitted she 'thought' life was over after being diagnosed with an incurable illness aged 25.

In 2021, Caragh was diagnosed with lupus, an incurable auto-immune condition which occurs when the body's immune system mistakes its own tissues and organs as foreign, making proteins called auto-antibodies that attack them.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the disease - famously suffered by singer Selena Gomez - causes inflammation, affecting joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs. 

And in an interview four years after her diagnosis, Caragh, now 29, opened up about her tough battle with the condition that left her with joint pain, alopecia and painful blisters on her skin.

The beauty, who is the second-oldest child of Manchester United legend Roy, 53, and wife Theresa Doyle, also credited her parents for saving her life as she recalled struggling so much that she couldn't leave her bed for over a month. 

Caragh explained: 'Life was over. (There was) no way out. I wouldn’t be here without them (mum and dad). When I was diagnosed, I mourned the person I had been and the person I felt I should have been.

'The fatigue was unbearable but you just power on. I was essentially bed-bound for a month-and-a-half. I had been experiencing fatigue and memory loss for about six months. Since your immune system is essentially attacking itself, you feel like you only have yourself to blame.'

Her spirits were lifted somewhat by her parents, with Caragh praising her mother's unwavering support and positivity while also highlighting her footballer dad's 'brilliant sense of humour'.

She added that the Irish sportsman is 'best person for advice' and helped her 'so much', remarking that she's 'lucky' to have her folks.

Despite this, things got so bad amid the pain and fatigue that Caragh faced lifetime of taking immunosuppressants and was even told she may need chemotherapy to help ease her symptoms.

Caragh also forced to give up her dream of becoming a teacher, having turned down a job offer as she was just too 'poorly'.

She recalled bursting into tears following a mock lesson in which she could 'barely move' though he pain, with symptoms eventually escalating so much that she was left 'bed-bound', while blisters had spread across her chest and face.  

After feeling that there was 'no way out' amid her crippling symptoms, Caragh took things into her own hands and began to search the link between gut health and inflammation.

Caragh soon overhauled her diet, switching to unprocessed, gut-friendly foods which eventually helped ease her symptoms.

She explained: 'I started eating real whole foods, so I focused on good meat, fish and healthy fats, veggies and fruits, gut-healing foods like bone broth and fermented food, and supplements. I started noticing my hair growing back and all my blisters started fading on my face'.

Caragh added that after a few months, her joint pain had 'subsided', which led her to begin to think of all the other people 'suffering' without knowing the 'healing properties' of food. 

The businesswoman was then spurned on to start her own company, Superkeen Foods, which sell organic, 100% Natural foods which supports those with Lupus and other auto-immune illnesses. 

Amid her slowly improving health, Caragh told how she's now the 'happiest' she's ever been and is super 'grateful' for the support her brand has so far received ahead of its launch this month. 

According to Lupus UK, about one in every 50,000 people in the UK have the condition.

There is no cure for lupus with treatment instead designed to help people manage their symptoms.

Lupus can range from mild, when it causes skin or joint problems to severe where it can cause life- threatening to organs.

Flare-ups, periods where symptoms get worse are another aspect of the condition scientists are still trying to understand.

Both what triggers them and what causes them to subside isn't yet clear.

Further complicating the topic is that some patients don't experience flare-ups at all.

As well as Caragh, Roy and Theresa - who married in 1997 - share son Aidan and daughters Leah, Alanna and Shannon. They also have two grandchildren.