JO: MY SISTER WAS FIGHTING FOR LIFE WHEN OFFERED HELP
JO WHILEY has said it ‘couldn’t be crueller’ that her sister Frances has now been offered a vaccine – after she was already ‘fighting for her life’ against Covid-19.
The Radio 2 DJ said her family felt it had been the worst week of their lives as Frances, 53, who has learning difficulties and diabetes, became very ill after testing positive at her Northamptonshire care home.
And she said her sister was so terrified when she was admitted to hospital she rampaged through the building and had to be restrained by security guards.
Whiley, 55, has previously questioned why she was offered the jab before her sister, who has the Cri du Chat genetic syndrome.
She told BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show: ‘She was actually called in for her vaccine last night... but it’s too late.
‘She’s fighting for her life in hospital. It couldn’t be crueller.
‘Twenty-four hours ago we were talking palliative care and yesterday she rallied round and we are seeing her oxygen levels rise, so at the moment we have got hope. She always has been a great fighter and I’m just hoping that her spirit gets her through.’
The broadcaster urged the government to protect all people with learning disabilities.
She said Frances was so frightened she would not allow medical staff to give her oxygen, adding: ‘That is why her oxygen levels plummeted.’
She said: ‘The medical professionals, who were doing an amazing job, just aren’t equipped because it’s all so new. They don’t know how people with a learning disability are going to react in this situation, which is why it makes such sense to just get them vaccinated as quickly as you possibly can.’
Health secretary Matt Hancock, on the same show, said: ‘My heart goes out to Jo and to her sister and her whole family.’
Edel Harris, head of learning disability charity Mencap, also called for urgent jab priority for anyone with learning disabilities, saying they ‘are six times more likely to die from Covid-19 than the rest of the population’.