Bindi Irwin, the daughter of conservationist and television personality Steve Irwin, underwent emergency surgery after her appendix ruptured, forcing her to miss the annual gala honoring her late father on Saturday (May 10), her brother, Robert, confirmed to PEOPLE.

“She’s going to be OK, but surgery — out of all the things we were ready for, that was not one of them,” Robert said at the event in Las Vegas.

“She’s just come out the other side of endometriosis and now the appendix goes,” he added. “Health is so important — it really is.”

Bindi, 26, who had previously undergone surgery for endometriosis in March 2023, planned to attend the event despite recent health issues, according to her brother.

“She came to Las Vegas and was ready to come to the gala, put on a brave face in a lot of discomfort and a lot of pain and said, ‘Nope, I’m just going to tough it out, I’m going to go for it,’ ” Robert said. “But the surgeon said, ‘No, your appendix is going. That thing’s gotta come out.’ Health has to come first.”

Bindi's mother, Terri, also missed the event honoring her late husband in order to help her daughter recover, according to Robert.

“She’s very sad,” he said about Bindi. “She’s devastated that she and Mom can’t be here, but I know she’ll make a speedy recovery.”

Bindi and Robert followed in their late father's footsteps as conservationists and zookeepers. Steve Irwin, the son of Bob Irwin, who founded the Australian Zoo, which is now owned by Terri, died in 2006 from an injury caused by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary in the Great Barrier Reef.

Sonya Blakey