News Network Logo

Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies left viewers feeling very emotional as she remembered her mother's gruelling last moments on GB News today.

More than 30,000 people have developed silent killer infection hepatitis C and HIV after being affected by contaminated blood products and transfusions between 1970 and 1991.

Around 3,000 of these individuals passed away during what is now dubbed the biggest scandal in the history of the NHS.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to issue a public apology today and Sharron Davies detailed the heartbreaking story that left her without her mother.

Speaking to GB News she said: "My mum was amazing. She's my mum, we all say that about mums, don't we?

"But she was very quiet and a very reserved kind of person. She didn't smoke, she didn't drink. She hardly ever left Plymouth. She worked in the mod down there in the civil service until she was 70.

"She didn't take a single penny of anything from the Government in support. She just kept quiet about this condition. We knew as a family and she died in 2017 prematurely, like 3,000 other people have so far, and are still dying because of this terrible silent killer.

"Haemophiliacs that were given these drugs and plasma in the 70s and the 80s died much quicker."

She added: "My mum was of that era where she just idolised the NHS in a lot of ways, and towards the end the NHS really seriously let her down.

"Because of her age, she was sidetracked. So she used her savings and I went with her to Harley Street to see a specialist, and he said if he'd come six months early, he could have operated and removed the cancerous part of her liver. But he said it was now too late.

"All he could do was offer her drug that would make her very poorly and may prolong her life by a couple of months.

"We talked her out of it and said, look, you know, you've maintained your dignity and independence. Let's do this to the very end."

The former athlete has often spoken out about the injustice her mother suffered after she was originally brought into hospital for an operation to treat gallstones.

As she mentioned, she was administered contaminated blood which led her to develop hepatitis C.

The infection was diagnosed years after her operation during a blood test before considerably damaging her liver and causing cancer.

Two main groups of people were caught up in the scandal.

One was people with haemophilia, and those with similar disorders, who have a rare genetic condition which means their blood does not clot properly.

In the 1970s, a new treatment was developed to replace the missing clotting agents, made from donated human blood plasma.

News
World News
UK News
Devon News

Weather
World Weather
UK Weather
Devon Weather

Business
Directory
UK Jobs
Devon Jobs
Business Networking

News Network Logo

Travel
World Travel
UK Travel
Devon Travel
Hotels
Flights

Things To Do
Restaurants
Entertainment
Events
Offers

Contact
Directory Contact
Jobs Contact
Business Networking Contact
Adverts Contact

Copyright News Network © 2024 All Rights Reserved