Bucks Fizz star Jay Aston has endured a hellish ordeal over the last few years.
The singer, who rose to fame when the British band won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 with 'Making Your Mind Up', has suffered from her own agonising health battles.
Jay was diagnosed with mouth cancer in June 2018, had a gruelling seven-hour operation to remove a section of her tongue and then had it rebuilt using part of her thigh.
The 60-year-old was also left unable to move after being struck with Covid last year - but says none of that compares to the fear of losing her daughter, Josie, who is seriously ill in hospital.
Josie, 18, was rushed to intensive care and put in an induced coma after her organs began to fail and has been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.
"I had a horrendous time in hospital. The pain was unbelievable, but this has been the worst month of my life. I’m exhausted," Jay told The Mirror. "Josie is my only child and I’d swap places with her in a heartbeat."
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Jay’s battle with cancer began in 2015 when her dentist noticed she had an autoimmune condition called lichen planus, which she said looked a bit like a white cobweb on her tongue.
Then, during a routine dental appointment in January 2018, her dentist noticed the lichen planus had begun to spread from the front to the back of her tongue and advised her to get it looked at again.
In April that year she had a biopsy that revealed there were precancerous cells in her tongue and she would need some of it removed.
The same day of her diagnosis, Jay went to the recording studio with bandmates Cheryl Baker and Mike Nolan and they were all left sobbing.
"I have a young daughter, I want to see her grow up, I want to see her get married and see her grandchildren," explained Jay at the time. "The first thing I said [after the diagnosis] is, 'I want to be here for her.'
"After they told me, I got on the train and bawled my eyes out. Everyone was looking at me. I called my husband, and then Cheryl [Baker]."
But there was more devastating news after the initial surgery as the section of tongue they had removed had cancerous cells throughout and they couldn’t yet tell where else they had spread to.
Jay returned to the studio for what she feared would be the final time to record vocals for a Christmas album from the band, now called The Fizz.
The singer had gruelling seven-hour surgery to remove a section of her tongue and lymph nodes, then had skin taken from her thigh and inserted through her neck to reconstruct the removed section of her tongue.
Speaking on Lorraine in September 2018, Jay confessed she looked like she was "going to a Halloween party" after the "pretty grim" surgery took place.
Jay explained that she had developed a lisp but was hoping her speech would return to normal after a few months of physiotherapy.
Revealing how she was diagnosed, Jay said: "It was actually my dentist. I went for a regular check up. I had a little white patch on my tongue. This was a few years ago. I had a biopsy then and it was fine. I've been going for regular checks.
"Around Christmas time it started to change and spread from front to back. I had a first op which they took a slice front to back. They thought it wasn't going to be cancer. Unfortunately it was all dotted which is why they did this bigger operation.
"They got everything and they’re rebulit my tongue. They’ve taken a chunk of my thigh off, gone in my neck and taken my lymph node out. They inserted the new tongue through my neck. I looked like I was going to a Halloween party.
"It's incredible what they can do and the surgeons have been amazing."
Jay couldn't talk initially and was left with scars from the operation, but worried about the possibility of leaving her teenage daughter and not being able to see her grow up.
On her biggest fear, Jay said: "Leaving my daughter, she’s 15, she’s my world. I want to be here to see her grow up, get married and maybe have grandchildren. She's been great and my husband has been amazing as well. I've had a great team."
In January last year, Jay revealed she had been left struggling to move after being struck down with Covid.
The singer took to Facebook to share a throwback photo of a vinyl cover for her workout album titled, Shape Up & Dance with Jay Aston, while urging her followers to sanitise their hands.
Alongside the pic, she wrote the caption: "Those were the days ... fit and bouncy .. now tucked up in bed not moving much, full of Covid... thanks China or maybe Morrison’s.
"We’ve been so careful but it’s a Trojan horse. Sanitize the sanitizer all! pandemic #covid#home#lockdown."
Now Jay is enduring a living nightmare while watching her 18-year-old daughter battle meningitis.
She was rushed to hospital after Jay noticed a rash on her daughter's arm, with doctors saying the singer's quick thinking saved Josie's life.
Nearly a month after being put in an induced coma when her organs started to fail, Josie is still in a specialist kidney unit and has been told she will be permanently scarred.
"It’s been absolutely devastating. We were told it was 50/50 whether she would pull through. We still don’t know when she’ll be coming home," Jay told The Mirror.
"I sat by her bedside night after night willing her to make it. I couldn’t believe this was her fate, because she’s such a lovely person. She’s outgoing, kind, good-willed and full of life. It just felt so cruel.
"I’ve been doing a lot of praying. She’s my world – we’re ridiculously close. I just couldn’t imagine being without her."
Josie, who is having blood transfusions and kidney dialysis, has a rash on her forehead and knees and has been warned she will have permanent scars on her legs where the rash caused the skin to blister and fall off.
Although Josie had a meningitis vaccination as a child, she hadn’t been vaccinated for this particular type and there was a sharp rise in cases of meningitis B earlier this year.
Jay, who knows there is a long road ahead, added: "If she hadn’t been in my bed that night, I’d have lost her. I’m hoping she will make a full recovery, but I’m just elated that’s alive.
"She’s a great kid; she’s lovely and funny and I’m very lucky and blessed to have her. Whatever happens next, we’ll deal with it."
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