Bucks Fizz star Jay Aston: I was told my daughter might die

16 June 2022

Jay Aston was told her daughter Josie "might die" after she was diagnosed with meningitis.

Jay Aston was told her daughter Josie might die when rushed to hospital with meningitis

The 61-year-old singer - who won the Eurovision Song Contestant back in back in 1981 as part of Bucks Fizz - explained that Josie, 19, was given a "50/50" chance of survival just hours after being rushed to hospital with what turned out to be meningitis.

She said: "She got in there [hospital] about half-past 3 in the morning and by 10 o'clock later that day, they gave us the 50/50. They sat me in this room and said 'she may die'.

"And your ears just shut down, I was like 'I beg your pardon? What did you say?' I just couldn't hear it. It was later that day that they induced the coma."

Josie was kept in the coma - which was induced as a result of lung failure - but eventually came round after five days, during which Jay had slept in a hospital chair by her bed.

The 'Making Your Mind Up' hitmaker - who has Josie with her husband Dave Colquhoun - went on to explain that she recognised the rash on the teenager's arm because Dave had suffered from the infection many years earlier.

In her first interview since the ordeal, Josie explained that she had first started to experience "uncontrollable shaking" which initially felt like flu.

Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', she said: "I started feeling a bit unwell, I was shaking uncontrollably. I thought it was heatstroke... then flu."

Despite surviving the ordeal, Josie continues to suffer from the long-term side effects of meningitis and her kidneys are now functioning at just 12% but Jay remains hopeful that dialysis or a transplant won't be necessary.

She said: "Her kidneys aren't right yet. The last blood test that she had they were functioning at just 12%. So we are hoping that she can avoid dialysis later on or a transplant.

"They've started moving - it was stuck at seven and it's getting better every week. They'll test them at the end of the month and we're just praying we'll get her up to 20% and out of the red zone."