This Morning's Sian Welby opens up on her dad's devastating health battle

Sian Welby, who went down a storm recently when she presented This Morning alongside co-star Dermot O’Leary for the first time, has revealed a secret sadness the presenter and her family have lived with, the past few years.

As she discussed a revolutionary new blood test that can detect Alzheimer's disease during its early stages, Sian revealed on-air that her father Ian, 83, is battling vascular dementia one of more than 900,000 people living with the cruel condition across the UK.Telling Dermot it was “devastating”, she added: “You're scared to lose a person that you know, it is quite frightening!

Like you say, would I want to take a test knowing I could be susceptible to it?” Speaking to OK!, Sian - who also co-hosts a show on Capital FM with Roman Kemp, admitted that her father no longer has any short term memory, which makes day-to-day life often very difficult. “If someone calls, he puts the phone down and can’t remember who it was”, she explained. “If mum pops out to the shops, he can’t remember when she left - or when she’s coming back.” The star, who has previously discussed her father's battles with both cancer and COVID-19, also opened up on nearly losing him during that battle with coronavirus, in 2022- one which saw him go down to six stone in just two weeks. “Thankfully he won the fight.

But it was awful”, recalls Sian, quietly. “I don’t know how he didn’t die.There were some real low moments. At one point he thought we’d put him in a home, he was so disorientated.” During that time, Sian posted an emotional message on Instagram about her dad, asking for support - and amongst those sending personal messages to encourage him to keep fighting were Sian’s showbiz pals, Emma Bunton and Amanda Holden.