BBC star Kerry Wilson dies aged 56 after contracting the flu
BBC star Kerry Wilson - who found fame as a teenager on 'Bob Says Opportunity Knocks' - has died at the age of 56.
Kerry Wilson has died at the age of 56.
The Trentham-born star - who first found fame when she won the inaugural edition of 'Bob Says Opportunity Knocks' as a teenager in 1987 - complained of feeling "a bit sniffly" shortly before New Year but she quickly deteriorated and went into a coma before her family decided to switch off life support on January 3, almost exactly 30 years on from the death of her brother.
Her mother Linda Burns told Stoke-on-Trent Live: "She was my best friend. I was only 16 when I had Kerry. What’s tragic is she had a younger brother, just two years different in age. He died in January as well, 30 years ago when he was just 24. I feel absolutely heartbroken that not just one, but both of my children are gone.
"Kerry was very young, very lively. It was very sudden. She’s never been in the hospital in her life; no major health issues or anything like that. But then this new flu came along. It’s been devastating. You just don’t expect it – everyone gets flued up every winter.
"She told me she felt a bit sniffly. As mothers do, I said to her, ‘Why don’t you ring 111?’ By the weekend, she didn’t feel any better so she gave them a call. They made her an appointment with a GP straight away because her oxygen levels were right down. Within 12 hours she was in a coma, placed on a ventilator."
Following her initial success, Kerry played Cheryl Colclough on BBC Radio Stoke's first soap opera when it launched in 1991 before going on to appear on 'The Jonathan Ross Big Talent Show' in 1997 and was then seen on 'Talking Telephone Numbers' around the same time.
Kerry was also noted for impressions of musical artists and had performed as icons such as Aretha Franklin, Lisa Stansfield and Alanis Morissette.
Linda added: "We thought she was starting to recover, but then she contracted sepsis. A little while later she was gone.
"It was really rapid and totally unexpected. We were with her. Her family were at her side when they switched the machine off.
"I've experienced losing a child before, but I never thought it would happen again. The grief was unreal.
"There's a quote I've always had in life to all the mothers out there: 'if you think giving birth is painful, giving them back is excruciating'."
