A Place In The Sun's Laura Hamilton on 'wow' moment she knew she had disease that killed guest's sister

'A Place In The Sun' star Laura Hamilton has bravely shared her experience with a rare blood disorder.

Laura, 42, says she has the disorder known as immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), a condition that results in excessive bruising and bleeding. Many who watch the travel programme may be unaware that the presenter has been battling ITP all this while.

Speaking to the Daily Star via Facebook Live chat, she has previously opened up about her condition, reports Coventry Live. She said: "I have something called ITP, Immune thrombocytopenia, which is low platelets count in my blood its quite an unknown disease.

"It sort of flares ups and downs depending on what's going on with my life and stress often brings it out."

Recalling an incident during filming, Laura recounted: "It was really mad a year ago I was filming A Place In The Sun with a lovely couple in France - Mark and Janine - and I just stood there and I had an insect bite on my leg and I started scratching it.

"I was like 'oh I shouldn't have done that because I'm gonna have bruises on my leg from ITP.' Mark stopped and was like 'how do you know what ITP is?'

"And he told me that really sadly his sister had died from ITP and he said it was really good how I was trying to raise awareness of it."

Laura, who became a familiar face on the show since 2012, also hosts her podcast 'the Mile Fly Club.'

The presenter confessed: "It's one of them times where you think they could have been paired with anybody as a presenter and nobody knew about the ITP link so it was just like 'wow'.

"But that's kind of under control at the moment I don't have bruising quite like that on my legs but it does happen it does flare up but I'm always trying to be positive about things and be a glass half-full."

Meanwhile, A Place In The Sun colleague, Jean Johansson, has also dealt with an age-related condition known as presbyopia - a difficulty in focusing on close objects. After ignoring her declining vision, at 42, a visit to the optician confirmed what Jean suspected.

"I can honestly say it's been life-changing. "I'm not entirely sure why it took me so long to admit I needed glasses," suggesting it may have been from an unwillingness to confront aging.

Nevertheless, she now acknowledges presbyopia as a natural aspect of growing older.