Dad’s heroic battle with the cruellest disease inspired me to chase my dream
Breakfast TV star Charlotte Hawkins reveals how her father’s stoicism as he fights motor neurone disease has encouraged her to relish every opportunity in life
SHE is the wholesome, fresh-faced vicar’s daughter from Sussex who has emerged as the rising star of ITV’s new breakfast show, Good Morning Britain. Bestowed with glossy good looks, a stunning figure and a reputation for being cool under pressure, presenter Charlotte Hawkins has seen her profile skyrocket, winning the praise of critics and audiences alike since joining Susanna Reid on the show from Sky’s morning news programme, Sunrise.
But such is the cut-throat battle for breakfast television ratings that many have wondered why Charlotte, who has always avoided the hoopla of celebrity, joined a show that has so much to prove following the debacle of Daybreak, the ITV programme hosted by Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles that struggled for viewers after they were installed as hosts in 2010.
It seemed an altogether uncharacteristic risky move for Charlotte, who was raised in a rambling vicarage in Sidlesham, spent an idyllic childhood embroiled in country pursuits and grafted hard to win her Sky slot as a news presenter.
Now, in her first interview since the move, Charlotte, 39, has revealed what prompted her to take on the A-listers of breakfast broadcasters: she explains that it was the devastating news that her beloved father Frank, 78, is suffering from motor neurone disease (MND), a terminal illness, that convinced her to take the controversial ITV job.
Despite recent headlines about slumping viewing figures, Charlotte is sanguine. Her father’s prognosis has encouraged her to relish challenges. As she sits alongside the man she so clearly adores, she says: ‘You are going along with your life quite happily and get used to the fact that everything in your family is fine, and then when something like this happens it shakes your world.
‘You realise you have to make the most of every moment and it makes you completely reassess how you are living your life, because none of us knows what is round the corner.
‘I wanted to grab every possible opportunity that came my way, and the Good Morning Britain job was an exciting opportunity which I wanted to make the most of.’
MOTOR neurone disease is an incurable, slowly worsening condition that attacks the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. It kills five people a day in the UK, half of whom die within 14 months of diagnosis.
A self-confessed ‘daddy’s girl’, Charlotte is full of admiration for his stoicism. ‘Dad’s attitude has been incredible. I have never seen him angry or frustrated. He is a remarkable man and takes it all in his stride,’ she says proudly.
For Charlotte the machinations of breakfast TV pale into insignificance compared with the daily battle her father has faced since being diagnosed in 2011.
He initially noticed problems with his balance and his right hand, which ‘stopped moving properly’ earlier that year. The effect was, he says, like ‘trying to walk through snow’.
He was referred to a neurologist but due to NHS staff cuts and changes in his consultants, he was not given a diagnosis for six months.
However, Frank was prepared for the news when it came. He says: ‘I did the thing you should never do – I looked on the internet and narrowed it down, from my symptoms, to two possibilities: MND or multiple sclerosis. When I did finally get the diagnosis, on one level it was quite a relief even though it wasn’t good news.’
The family’s six-month wait for that final diagnosis was tough not just on Charlotte’s mother Gillian, 71, but also on her two elder brothers, Richard, 48, and David, 47, who both work in finance.
Charlotte says: ‘Dad had told me from his research that he didn’t think the news was going to be good but I tried to block that out.
‘I kept hoping it would be something they’d say they could sort out or give my dad some pills and it would fix it. I didn’t know much about MND and I was shocked that there was no cure and no treatment. It was a devastating time for us and now every day we have together is a bonus.’
Charlotte’s childhood bedroom in Chichester has become her father’s world since he lost mobility in his legs and arms. He is now confined to a wheelchair. Frank is a keen birdwatcher and watches the wildlife from the bedroom window. He can also see a park, but these are his only contacts with the outside world.
Family and relatives visit regu- larly and Frank is able to continue e his biggest love – reading, a passion n he shares with Charlotte. ‘Dad used d to read to me every night when n I was a child. He read the entire e set of Lord Of The Rings when I was quite young and they were e probably too scary for me,’ says s Charlotte, who read English at t Manchester University.
‘I remember one time when I was s ill and my mum, who was a care e assistant, was working a night t shift. I got really sick and so my dad started to read me poems,’ she laughs.
With a twinkle in his eye, Frank admits: ‘To be honest, I didn’t know what else to do, but it seemed to work. Maybe it relaxed her or distracted her. It certainly stopped her being sick, which was a relief.’
The bond Charlotte shares with her father is evident in the loving looks and affectionate way she touches his arm as they chat.
She says: ‘Dad has always been there for me. He’s the person I turn to. He’s helped me with my job by offering alternative views to the news, helping me look at things in a different way, not necessarily the most obvious way.’
Charlotte, who lives in a £700,000 house in Surrey with her husband of six years, Mark Herbert, 40, brings regular picture updates for her dad to show the work they are currently putting into their home and garden.
While Mark, a senior executive at drinks firm Pernod Ricard, wallpapered and fitted bathrooms, Charlotte painted the three-bedroom 1950s-style property.
The disease has now begun to affect Frank’s speech and he no longer has the clear diction of which he was once so proud. And as the disease progresses, the family can’t help but worry about how much precious time they might have together.
Frank says: ‘The difficulty with MND is that you have no idea what timescale you are working on. Most
people don’t live beyond 14 months of diagnosis. If I’d known in 2011 how much time I had, I would have done more. But there is no pain – it’s not like having cancer or something like that, and you don’t tend to lose your marbles, which is important to me.
‘I’m a fairly philosophical person and I think that has helped me cope. If you are going to have MND, it is better to get it in your mid-70s like me than when you are in your 30s or 40s.
‘I suspect if that had happened, I may have had a very different attitude,’ he adds. ‘I try to look on the bright side. My family are all grown up and doing reasonably well. I just know that at the same time this is it, there is no cure.’
WITH Charlotte’s help, Frank has been able to put together a book of his early years when he lived in Australia and hopes it will be among many memories that can be shared with the family. Charlotte says: ‘When Dad got his diagnosis, the one thing he wanted above everything else was that nothing should change.
‘It was heartbreaking, and everything that MND entails means that you could just spend endless hours crying, being a blubbering mess. But there was no point in that, however much you might feel like doing it. Dad wanted there to be jokes and laughter just as there had always been in our family and that is the way we have tried to continue.’
Frank’s treatment is Riluzole, which is thought to slow down the progressive damage to the neurone cells by reducing their sensitivity to the nerve transmitter glutamate. In medical research, the drug has extended survival by two to three months on average, though this can vary from person to person.
‘One of the difficulties for those affected by MND is that there are no definite answers because each person differs, so Dad has survived longer than expected and we count ourselves as being very lucky that he is still with us,’ says Charlotte.
She and her brothers have frequently turned to the MND Association for help and support because so little is known about the disease, which affects 5,000 adults each year in the UK.
The charity, founded in 1979 by a group of volunteers, began a month-long awareness campaign last week and Charlotte and her family are determined to do everything they can to help raise both funds and the profile of the charity.
She says: ‘I would like to think that while it may be too late for my dad, we can eventually find a cure for this disease.’
To donate £5 to the MND Association, text MND VOICE to 70004. Texts cost £5 plus network charge. The MND Association receives 100 per cent of your donation.