Sophie Raworth's mum wheelchair bound because of rare brain disorder
Sophie Raworth's mum, Jenny, cannot move because of a rare brain disorder, so she is getting by in a wheelchair.
Sophie Raworth's mum has been left wheelchair bound because of a rare brain disorder.
Ex-florist-and-model Jenny, 84, is battling bowel cancer, and now she is also dealing with normal pressure hydrocephalus - a neurological condition caused by spinal fluid that builds up inside the skull and puts pressure on the brain.
BBC News presenter Sophie, 58, noted it is the same condition - which affects the likes of movement, thinking, concentrating, memory - that singer Billy Joel, 77, is suffering from, which has impacted his "hearing, vision, and balance".
She told the new issue of Saga Magazine: "Your spinal fluid doesn't drain and presses on your brain. It affects your movement, so mum can't move, she's in a wheelchair, which is really hard because she was always so active.
"But she's still completely with it."
News of Jenny's health comes just over a year since her husband, Richard, lost his "long battle with Parkinson's disease" - a progressive neurological disorder that affects movement - just days before Sophie fronted the BBC's VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations on May 5, 2025.
The family said in a statement to the Daily Mail newspaper's Eden Confidential column: "[Richard] died peacefully after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.
"[The businessman, photographer, jazz bass player and passionate gardener was] a man with a big heart and heaps of kindness and tenacity.
"We will miss him always."
Despite grieving the loss of Richard, Sophie continued to fulfill her duty by presenting the BBC's VE Day 80th anniversary commemorations.
An unnamed colleague added: "It's terribly sad, but Sophie was the consummate professional, as always."
Sophie - who has three children, Ella, 22, Georgia, 20, and Oliver, 18, with her husband, estate agent Richard Winter - has previously spoken about how Richard had Parkinson's for "several years" and revealed in 2021 that she had run the London Marathon to raise money for the Cure Parkinson's charity - which her father had supported.
She said at the time on her JustGiving fundraising page: "My dad has had Parkinson's for several years now.
"It is a horrible disease. Yet he deals with it amazingly. He never complains, just gets on with it with kindness and good humour."
