Mike Barraclough reporting:
Headline in the online Daily Mail yesterday evening “Veteran DJ Johnnie Walker, 79, is completely housebound and requires round-the-clock care from wife Tiggy for inflammation of the lungs – despite still broadcasting BBC show.”
Information is from this article by Tiggy in the Dorset Magazine “Every June eight charities join forces to mark Carers Week. Carers UK, Age UK, Carers Trust, MND Association, Oxfam GB, Rethink Mental Illness, Lewy Body Society and ME Association all hold awareness events to support and bring attention to the six million-plus unpaid carers throughout Britain. This is a cause close to The Pirate’s and my hearts as we have been co-patrons of Carers UK for 10 years. There are so many charities’ masts on which The Pirate could have hoisted his flag, but the fact is that we have both been carers to each other…….
The Pirate has for the past four years been suffering from Idiopathic Pulminary Fibrosis. Inflammation of the lungs leads to them scaring and being rendered useless. Thanks to Covid he was forced to work from home. It was such a success that Radio 2 allowed him to continue to work this way. However, on New Year’s Eve, Johnnie presented a live show from Wogan House….I expected him to be tired the next day, but something far worse happened. The effort had been too great on his already sick body. It was as if his health fell off a cliff. The weeks that followed were a blur of nurses, doctors, oxygen machines and wheelchairs. In 24 hours, our lives had changed out of all recognition. That was in January, and The Pirate has not left home since then, I am a carer 24/7.”
Full article at the link:
https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/dorset/24373316.tiggy-walker-caring-husband-dj-johnnie-walker/
30 minute feature on Carers Week and Johnnie’s illness on Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show today, Tiggy in the studio, Johnny on the telephone. Starts at 1 hour 4 minutes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zwlj
Walker & Walker: Johnnie & Tiggy – Sounds of the 70s with Johnnie Walker
To mark Carers Week on Radio 2, radio legend Johnnie Walker and his wife producer and writer, Tiggy Walker, discuss life, love and death, in a frank and honest conversation.