Tragic Details About HGTV Star Tiffany Brooks

Tiffany Brooks is grateful for things many of us take for granted. The "HGTV Star" winner has been living with a dangerous autoimmune disease since she was a little girl and has been in life-or-death situations more than once. Type 1 diabetes has affected not only her own health but also her son's, making her situation even more heartbreaking. Her condition and lifelong battles have taken a toll on both her physical and mental health.

Yet, the HGTV star, who is also known for competing alongside friend David Bromstad on "Rock the Block," didn't want her diagnosis to define her. In 2016, she took the reins of what she could control. She implemented lifestyle changes that helped her drop 70 pounds and never looked back. "I was happy, beautiful, kicking a** in my career, but not healthy," she captioned a 2023 Instagram post that illustrated her weight-loss journey. She dramatically increased her water intake and swapped her big one-a-day meal for five smaller portions.

Brooks focused on nutritious options that kept her fuller longer, which helped her avoid excessive eating that often happened when she went hours without food. "Now I'm more confident, collected, and feel like I can do anything, look younger than I did 10 years ago, and love shopping for clothes!" she celebrated. Unfortunately, a lot of aspects of her health were out of her control. Health issues that have afflicted her and her loved ones' lives have made for a painful journey, but Brooks is determined to rise above them.

Tiffany Brooks joined the list of celebs who secretly dealt with big medical issues early, having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was a child. It was never easy, but the autoimmune disease showed its most destructive side when she was pregnant in 2003. "I was lying 7.5 months pregnant in a hospital bed at Northwestern University. I have had juvenile diabetes since the age of 6 and it was now taking a toll on my kidneys, and my unborn son," she wrote in a 2013 Y&Y Decor blog post.

Her kidneys and pancreas continued to suffer even after she gave birth. "By the time Ayden was released my kidneys had 30% of its function left," she shared. Tiffany had to learn to care for a newborn with the help of her mother while a nurse checked up on her. "I was barely strong enough to hold [my son] in my arms," she penned. Unfortunately, resting at home wasn't enough to help her recover.

After about a week, Tiffany was rushed to the ER. "My Doctor told me that if I had gotten there hours later, I would have been dead," she wrote. She needed dialysis three times a week. "I weighed 105 pounds, had jaundice of the skin, and at 24 I was on dialysis," she explained. It was grueling. That was her only pregnancy, but, as hard as it was, it gave Tiffany her son. Their mother-son bond is palpable. "Son, I love you to the maximum and always will," she captioned a 2020 Instagram post.

After giving birth, Tiffany Brooks spent five months on dialysis treatment. "Dante [her then-husband] would keep me fed with Ensure meal replacement shakes and chicken breast. I could only have 12 oz of liquid a day total," she wrote in her essay. It was clear her kidney wasn't going to recover. She needed a new kidney. Her husband, siblings, friends, and even a neighbor tested for organ compatibility.

Her brother was a perfect match. "I received the greatest gift of a working kidney on February 4th, 2004," she wrote. A year later, she received a pancreas from an organ donor. "If this second transplant was successful this would take away my diabetes that had beat my a** for the past 20 years," she shared. The organ donations allowed Brooks to live a mostly normal life, raise her son, and develop her dream career. But it wasn't the end of the road.

In September 2025, Brooks shared she had undergone transplant surgery once again. "I am blessed to share that I have been given another chance at life with a very special kidney and pancreas donor. I'm overcome with emotion for this amazing gift," she revealed on Instagram. She didn't explain why she needed the new organs. In her blog post, Tiffany celebrated eight years with no signs of rejection. However, it is common for organ recipients to need a new transplant later. According to the NHS, a kidney from a living donor lasts between 20 and 25 years. 

Amid her health struggles, Tiffany Brooks had to be induced a month early to protect her failing kidneys. In her 2013 essay, she shared that she gave birth to a baby who was very small for gestational age at just 3 pounds, 11 ounces, suggesting Ayden suffered from intrauterine growth restriction as a complication of her Type 1 diabetes. Pregnant women with the condition are at a greater risk of vasculopathy, which in turn can affect the placenta's ability to transfer nutrients to the baby.

Despite his low birth weight, Ayden was able to breathe on his own. However, that wasn't enough to avoid NICU time. "He would be fed through a feeding tube and kept in an incubator, like the other premies until he was ready to come home," Brooks penned. Luckily, he didn't need much time to catch up and was feeding with no assistance in a matter of days. "He was ready to hit the streets a week and a half later," she shared.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the only time Ayden suffered at the hands of the disease, as he also developed Type 1 diabetes. Her own and her son's experiences inspired Tiffany to support the American Diabetes Association in an effort to raise awareness and funds for research. "I'm hopeful for all we'll accomplish together until the day that diabetes is a thing of the past," she wrote in an August 2025 Instagram post to promote a donation campaign. 

Her own and her son's weren't the only health battles to afflict Tiffany Brooks' family. Around 2018, her father died from pancreatic cancer, a loss she took really hard. Even though she doesn't share a lot about her private life on social media, she has celebrated her father a few times. "I love and miss this man every day I wake up. Happy Father's Day gentlemen! Love ya Dad," she captioned a June 2021 Instagram post featuring a snap of a framed picture of Brooks with her father on her wedding day (seen above).

Tiffany keeps her father's memory alive through a family tradition of exchanging personalized Christmas ornaments. "My favorite ornament is of my father," she told People in 2020. "It's a picture of him two weeks before we found out that he had pancreatic cancer." The picture is particularly meaningful because it shows her father before he started losing weight as a result of the disease. It shows him the way Brooks likes to remember him.

He looked handsome in an attire that he didn't wear often. "My father did not dress up — he was a total jeans and tennis shoe guy — but he was wearing a suit and tie, and we were able to get this snapshot of him," she explained. Her family members, herself included, can get pretty competitive over the personalized ornaments. But she has to hand it to her niece for coming up with this one. "That's my most prized Christmas ornament," she conceded.

Tiffany Brooks' lifelong health struggles took a toll beyond her physical well-being. In the aftermath of her difficult birth, her mental health tanked. "I hated eating, and living felt like a chore," she revealed in her essay. The treatment, the fear, the uncertainty, and the physical struggles drove her to her limit. "Illness and depression raged in my body," she wrote. Brooks hasn't openly discussed her mental health since the 2013 essay, but she has used her platform to encourage her fans to pay attention to their own.

In 2019, Brooks shared reminders for creative people who struggle with depression and/or anxiety. Those included affirmations like, "Your productivity does not determine your value," "It's okay to do nothing sometimes," and "You're allowed to rest." In the caption, she hinted at her mental health struggles, suggesting they carried over after her health crisis. "Posting here, because #Monday's are typically when I feel the most #disabled, #creatively stuck, #uninspired, and #anxiety [ridden]," she wrote in the Instagram post.

In 2021, Brooks once again used social media to remind others to be mindful of people's struggles in their social interactions. She shared an onscreen message on Instagram that read: "You can't see other people's mental health. Be kind always." In the caption, she urged her followers to choose to be a source of positivity to those around them. "You never know how much the little things you do may mean to someone else," she wrote. 

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.