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CAROL VORDERMAN has become the latest celebrity to back The Sun’s Who Cares Wins Appeal – and she praised NHS heroes for risking their lives to save others.
The former Countdown maths whizz paid tribute to frontline doctors, nurses and paramedics for their selfless bravery, and she has plenty of reasons why.
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She said: “Everyone working for the NHS is risking their life on a daily basis at the moment.
“And in a number of cases we have tragically already seen people die while just doing their jobs, which is unbelievably sad.
“I have always been a champion of our health service because not only have they saved my life twice, they also saved my mum, brother and daughter.
“I nearly died as a toddler and then in 2004 had excruciating gallbladder pain which turned into sepsis.
“I was rushed to hospital in an ambulance and later told that I was six hours from death.
BRITAIN’s four million NHS staff are on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.
But while they are helping save lives, who is there to help them?
The Sun has launched an appeal to raise £1MILLION for NHS workers.
The Who Cares Wins Appeal aims to get vital support to staff in their hour of need.
We have teamed up with NHS Charities Together in their urgent Covid-19 Appeal to ensure the money gets to exactly who needs it.
The Sun is donating £50,000 and we would like YOU to help us raise a million pounds, to help THEM.
No matter how little you can spare, please donate today here
“My brother was born with a cleft palette and my mum Jean, was three times diagnosed with cancer before she eventually died aged 88.
“So in her case, the doctors not only saved her life, they constantly extended it.”
Carol, 59, told how NHS doctors also saved her daughter Katie, now 29.
She explained: “My daughter was also born two months premature, and again it was the NHS who treated us and saved her. I have so much to be eternally grateful for.
“The Sun’s Who Cares Wins awards are a wonderful way to recognise these frontline heroes who have been doing so much for us for so long.
“Their dedication and hard work now has never been more apparent or appreciated.”
The Sun has teamed up with NHS Charities Together in its Covid-19 appeal to ensure that the money donated by YOU and our growing celebrity and business supporters will be used to aid health workers who really need help by providing them with food and care packs.
Funds raised by the Who Cares Wins campaign will also be used to create so-called “Wobble Rooms” — where staff working around the clock to combat the pandemic can go to let off steam when faced with the trauma of frontline treatment of victims.
We are aiming to raise £1million to help the UK’s amazing health workers.
By last night the total amount donated stood at more than £543,803. As revealed on Friday, this includes a £100,000 donation by billionaire Sir Tom Hunter.
The tycoon’s nephew is a heart surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in central London.
Our campaign is also backed by Virgin Radio DJ Chris Evans and former Coronation Street actress Kym Marsh.
Among the major donors is jewellers H Samuel, which has pledged £50,000. The company’s managing director, Neil Old, said: “As soon as the first coronavirus cases were reported in the UK we wanted to find a way to support those who need it.
“The Sun’s Who Cares Wins appeal is ideal because it is going directly to the frontline of the NHS. We are pleased to help support a great cause.”
In a warning about the impact of Covid-19, Carol has revealed that she believes the UK will be living in a “military-like” state for years — with red, amber and green warnings — as more waves of coronavirus contagion hit.
She has also hit out at “selfish” people flouting the lockdown rules as she reveals she has had to limit her daily walks from 15 miles a day to just three.
Carol said: “This will have years of effect. And I think it will become — I’m not saying regular — but it won’t be irregular. And we’ll just suddenly have green, amber, red, and it’ll be like, ‘Oh, we’re going to amber tonight’. A bit like the military do. I genuinely do think that.
“No one knows — not the Prime Minister, not the President of the United States, not the Queen, not anybody — what will happen.”
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Cambridge graduate Carol, who was a huge hit with fans while appearing in the hit Channel 4 game show from 1982 until 2008, revealed she has also been struggling with the Government’s prescribed one hour daily limit on outdoor exercise in public.
The keen hiker — twice voted Rear Of The Year — hit out at those flouting the rules.
On The Quiet Part Loud podcast by D.B. Hodgetts, she added: “I’m a big walker. So I find only doing an hour, in which I would do three and a half miles, that’s nothing.
“I’m not an angry person but I do get very cross about the selfishness of those who are going out and abusing that.
“Because if the Government do, and I understand why they may have to go harder on it, it’s so unfair for probably the 95 per cent, particularly the families with young children.
“They need it. It’s just an inconvenience, not threatening your life, staying inside.”