A BBC icon has admitted to his audience that he could “die at any moment” after he made a terrifying confession about his health.
Radio 2 legend Johnnie Walker told listeners that he had recently been diagnosed with a heart-breaking terminal illness. The host has been behind the microphone for the BBC since 1969 and is the much-loved voice of the Sounds of the 70s show.
Back in 2019, Walker suffered a terrifying heart attack that was particularly threatening to his life. He was eventually made to undergo a triple heart bypass to keep him alive.
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But just one year later, the broadcaster said he had been diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The condition means that the presenter’s lungs slowly, but gradually, become more inflated over time – which makes breathing more difficult.
(Image: BBC)
In order to keep his health in tip top condition, Johnnie opted to leave the BBC studio behind and present his show from the comfort of his own home in Dorset. This is so he can receive 24/7 care from darling wife of 22 years Tiggy, and as the show continues, the pair have opened up on how Johnnie’s condition has made them re-evaluate every part of their lives.
Tiggy confessed in a touching segment on their podcast on BBC Sounds that she was “so tired”, admitting that she sometimes “finds it hard to go on”. In the raw moment, she also recalled how she had been grieving their lives together when Johnnie first received the devastating news.
(Image: James McMillan 2019)
Doctors also told Johnnie and Tiggy that they needed to be prepared that the radio broadcaster could “go at any moment”. Tiggy also said that she had to seek her own medical help in order to get through the ordeal and process what was happening to her and her husband.
“It was only by going to the doctors and going on antidepressants that I have kept going, because I was crying every single day and I was overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of everything I had to do,” she explained. Johnnie himself said that he had to learn quickly that there was “only a finite amount of time left here in the physical” before he passes away.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
He paid tribute to his wife in the candid chat as he said that every night, she helps him get into bed, before planting a kiss on him. In one emotional moment, he added: “Then she has to wonder whether I’m still going to be alive in the morning, which must be pretty hard for her.”
This is not Johnnie’s first brush with illness, as he was diagnosed with cancer back in 2006, something that Tiggy helped him get through. But in 2013, Johnnie himself had to care for his beau when she was also diagnosed with the disease in her breasts.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
