BBC RADIO 2 LEGEND JOHNNIE WALKER HOUSEBOUND AND NEEDING ROUND-THE-CLOCK CARE

Legendary DJ, Johnnie Walker, is now completely housebound as he battles Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

The veteran broadcaster, 79, who began his career on pirate station, Radio Caroline, has suffered from the condition, which is an inflamation of the lungs, for four years. Johnnie, who has broadcast his Radio 2 shows from his Dorset home since the start of the pandemic, is now being cared for by his wife, Tiggy.

Mrs Walker, herself a broadcaster and long-time producer, has said she now acts as her husband's "carer 24/7', adding that their lives have changed beyond "all recognition".

Opening up about Johnnie's health, she revealed a trip to broadcast his show from Wogan's House in London on New Year's Eve had a devastating effect, sharing: "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."

Tiggy continued in Dorset Magazine: "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."

She added that her husband has recorded his Radio 2 shows "wearing PJ's, sat in a wheelchair with a nose cannula feeding him oxygen".

Speaking about Johnnie's legion of loyal fans, who tune in every week to his Sunday's Sounds of the 70s and Friday's The Radio 2 Rock Show, Tiggy said they "definitely get the best" of her husband. She added: "That's how it should be. He's been a part of their lives for so long, and I'm so proud that he finds the strength each week to record his show."

The broadcaster has had to look after Johnnie before, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in his colon just after their honeymoon in 2003. Johnnie then had to care for his wife in 2013 when Tiggy was diagnosed with breast cancer.

In 2017, the DJ, who was made an MBE in 2066 for his services to broadcasting, shared how he went from cancer patient to cancer carer, telling the Mirror: "On the evening my wife Tiggy told me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, we did what any couple probably would – we cried and held each other tight. Tiggy was so healthy. She ate well, exercised, didn’t smoke. It didn’t seem possible she could be ill. She was 52 at the time and a picture of wellbeing. We’d felt certain that the lump would be a cyst. I felt physically sick at the news.

"But in those darkest of moments, we also found the strength to smile. I remember saying to her: 'Well, at least now it’s an equal opportunities marriage.'"

If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at https://www.actionpf.org/information-and-support/support-line

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2024-06-11T10:26:30Z dg43tfdfdgfd