Bucks Fizz singer Jay Aston’s 18-year-old daughter placed in induced coma with meningitis

Bucks Fizz singer Jay Aston has said that her 18-year-old daughter is in hospital after contracting meningitis.

Speaking toThe Mirror, Aston – who shot to fame when the band won Eurovision in 1981 with the song “Making Your Mind Up – said that her daughter Josie rang her on 22 March to tell her that she was feeling unwell. The singer drove to their family home in Kent, where Josie was shaking.

Aston spotted a rash on Josie’s arm that she immediately recognised to be meningitis and rushed her to hospital, where she was put in an induced coma in the ICU after her organs began to fail.

Aston said: “It’s been absolutely devastating. We were told it was 50/50 whether she would pull through. We still don’t know when she’ll be coming home.

“I sat by her bedside night after night willing her to make it. I couldn’t believe this was her fate, because she’s such a lovely person. She’s outgoing, kind, good-willed and full of life. It just felt so cruel.”

She continued: “I’ve been doing a lot of praying. She’s my world – we’re ridiculously close. I just couldn’t imagine being without her.”

Doctors later said that Josie would not have survived if Aston had not taken her to the hospital so quickly.

The musician, who still performs with the band under the name The Fizz, said that she had recognised the symptoms because her husband Dave Colquhoun had contracted meningitis 19 years ago.

Meningitis is the term used to describe when the membranes which protect the brain and spinal cord become inflamed. This can be caused by a virus or bacteria, with the former being the most common.

Bacterial meningitis can cause blood poisoning and in turn lead to severe brain damage, amputations and, in some cases, death, according to the NHS.