Davina McCall has spoken about the moment she was told her sister had just weeks to live

21 July 2021

Davina McCall has spoken about the moment she was told her sister had just weeks to live.

Davina McCall

The 'Masked Singer' panellist, who has just been confirmed as the host of this year’s The Sun newspaper ‘Who Cares Wins’ awards, has described the heart-breaking moment in 2012 when she rushed sister Caroline to hospital with a suspected stroke, only to discover she had terminal lung cancer.

Speaking to The Sun, Davina described the moment they got “the very, very bad diagnosis” and praised the actions of an NHS nurse who told her to “get back in there for my sister”.

She said: “We got the very, very bad diagnosis in A&E.

“I had to keep it together for Caroline because she was going through a much worse time than I was but every now and again I’d go into the corridor and have a meltdown.

“This one nurse came out and rubbed my back as I cried.

“She told me to take my moment and then pull myself together and get back in there for my sister.”

Tragically, just weeks later, on August 1, 2012, Caroline passed away at the age of 50.

And Davina, 53, will always remembers the kindness of NHS staff, describing the love we feel for the health service as being “like a bottomless pit”.

She said: “That empathy means the world, and the nurse and I still remember each other.

“Whenever I’m in A&E after one of the kids has got into a scrape we give each other a little nod.

“That experience is very intense, very bonding — and most of us know that feeling.

“It means everything, really. The love we feel for the NHS is like a bottomless pit.”

And having been confirmed to host this year’s ‘Who Cares Wins’ awards, Davina believes that following the coronavirus pandemic, “we need to celebrate the health service” more than ever before.

She said: “This year, more than ever, we need to celebrate the health service.

“These people have made huge sacrifices that impact on their sanity and safety.

“We’ve heard stories of people that didn’t even get to go home for weeks and months on end, just so they could try to stay clear of Covid so they could go to work and keep us safe.”