Frail Amy Winehouse has been struck down by the deadly lung condition
emphysema - and she could be in a wheelchair within a MONTH if she
doesn't stop smoking crack cocaine, her dad revealed last night.
Doctors have also told the star, 24 - rushed to hospital after having
a fit this week - that she will need a permanent oxygen mask to
survive unless she takes their advice.
In an emotional interview, her devastated father Mitch told the Sunday
Mirror how watching his daughter deteriorate reminded him of his own
78-year-old mother struggling for breath on an aspirator before she
died of lung cancer.
Worried dad Mitch said: "To think this could be my beautiful
24-year-old daughter's life is preposterous. But if drugs mean more to
her than breathing properly, then so be it. But the doctors have told
her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won't just ruin her voice, it
will kill her. It's been a tough week."
Mitch also told of his fears as Amy underwent tests after a mystery
lump was found on her chest during scans at private London hospital
The Clinic.
He said: "After lots of tests they found a lump in Amy's chest. A scan
has shown it's not cancerous and there are no traces of cancer in her
blood. But they might need to double check.
"There is a chance she might need a biopsy. If they need to cut the
lump out then that will mean a massive and painful operation and a lot
of recuperation.
At the moment that doesn't look likely.
"When they told me she had a lump, I was very, very worried. At times
Amy seems nervous about it but she doesn't panic until something's 100
per cent."
Ex-cabbie Mitch revealed how he recognised "warning signs" that Amy
would have a seizure after noticing her eyes were squinting at a
family lunch last Sunday. Then at 4pm on Monday, he rushed the
troubled star to hospital in the back of his cab after she collapsed
in a fit at her home in Camden, North London. She has suffered two
seizures in the past year, including one last August when she was
hospitalised after a huge drugs binge.
Mitch added: "When I saw her last Sunday lunch at her favourite
Spanish bar in Camden she was just picking at her tapas and salad. Her
eyes kept on squinting and flickering and I said to her then how that
had happened the last time she had a seizure. I even called her
manager Ray to tell him. Amy just brushed it off and said she had a
headache.
But the next day she collapsed. I got a call when I was out for lunch.
An ambulance came but she sent it away.
"But she wanted to go to hospital this time and she could walk so I
put her in the back of the cab. She didn't talk much and I could see
her in the mirror falling asleep.
"When we got to the hospital a room was ready. Several doctors came in
and checked to make sure she didn't need any emergency treatment. They
operaput her on a drip straight away because she was dehydrated. She
said, 'Don't worry about me, Dad. I know I've got to stop taking drugs
now'. At the hospital we found she'd been awake for 48 hours. We can
only speculate she'd been taking drugs all that time. She curled up in
bed and went to sleep. In between tests, she slept for almost three
days solid."
The lung-damage caused by emphysema is irreversible and can lead some
sufferers to become dependent on oxygen supplies. Skeletal Amy was
also suffering from irregular heartbeats when admitted.
Terrified she risks losing her life, she has now vowed to stay clean
and started a drug replacement programme on Tuesday. Mitch said: "The
doctors have said that if she had continued the way she was going she
could have ended up an invalid - she wouldn't have been able to
breathe.
"She's got emphysema. Iit's in its early stages, but had it gone on
for another month they painted a very vivid picture of her sitting
there like an old person with a mask on her face struggling to
breathe.
"With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes her lungs are all
gunked up. There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She's
got 70 per cent lung capacity."
Amy's plight has brought back painful memories for Mitch of the way
his mum died. Cynthia Winehouse, a singer who dated jazz legend Ronnie
Scott, was on a aspirator before she died in 2006.
Amy idolised Cynthia, and has her name tattooed on her right arm.
Mitch added: "Amy's now had every scan in the book - for her brain, on
her lungs, her heart. She's having tests every day to monitor her
heart rate. When she went into hospital she had irregular heartbeats.
I was messing around and picked up a stethoscope and listened to her
chest myself. It was all over the place. But they've now sorted that
out with medication.
That was likely to have been the drugs. But one step back, and it
could be fatal."
Mitch is now terrified that Amy - who is being watched by a nurse 24
hours a day and is expected to be in hospital for another week - will
discharge herself as soon as she feels better and will fall straight
back into her old ways. He has called for Amy's drug dealers and
circle of drug addict pals included troubled rocker
Pete Doherty - to stay away from her. He said: "I'm saying to those
drug dealers, and they know who they are, if they are supplying crack
to Amy, then they've got to take responsibility. I don't want her
hanging out with her mates like Pete Doherty either.
"What hope does she have if people are taking drugs around her?
Already Amy says she feels better and wants to leave hospital and that
worries me.
She says she's bored so I've got a whole shopping list of things...
sweets, chocolates, puzzle books, nighties." Mitch say Amy, who has a
history of bulimia, has been eating well for the first time in years.
He revealed: "She's been eating like a horse. I've been amazed.
For lunch she ordered a baked potato with tuna, cheese, beans, salad
and soup. She gobbled it all down and then ate mine. So she's going in
the right direction.
"But she feels she's ready to go out, and she's not. She's put on
weight, her skin is clear, she's lucid, she's my beautiful Amy. But in
the back of that cab I could see she was worried and frightened. It's
up to her, if she wants to die in three months then she leaves and
goes back to drugs. Hopefully this time she won't."
Mitch has visited Amy's husband Blake Fielder-Civil three times in
jail, where he is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to GBH and
conspiring to pervert justice.
Blake, 26, is calling Amy every day "to help her stay strong".
Mitch said: "Blake apologised to me for getting Amy into drugs and
says he's going to try and put it right. Blake was clean when I saw
him but he's told me he wants to go into rehab. We've organised it so
that as soon as he's out, that happens. He wants to go from zero to
hero. It's very hard for him being in prison, but at least he's been
trying.
"He wants me to live with Amy in her house in Camden when she's out of
hospital, but at the moment I don't really want to do that."
But Mitch hopes Amy will be allowed to perform at the Glastonbury
Festival next weekend because he believes singing has saved her life.
He said: "If she hadn't done recent shows in Moscow and Portugal she
could have been dead by now. She abstains and regulates her drug use
when she has to do a show.
"When she's been inactive work-wise then that's when the problems
really start. The doctors have said that medically there isn't any
reason why she can't do Glastonbury."
Mitch says he and Amy's mum - his ex-wife Janis - are trying their
best to help their daughter. He said: "My family have been criticised
for not doing enough for Amy. Some say we should put her in a room and
throw away the key but that's against the law. In our limited way, we
are doing the best we can and we are being guided by the doctors and
psychologists.
"There's no need to cry yet. If, God forbid, doctors said they can't
help her, then that's when we can have a good cry. But if she doesn't
go back to drugs then she can lead this magnificent life. With her
husband Blake too, if he gets clean as well."
He added: "We are praying that that's what Amy really wants. She seems resolute.
"I've started to see my old Amy back. We'll just have to see how great
her resolution is."
What is Emphysema?
Emphysema kills 40,000 Britons a year.
Usually caused by smoking, it ages the lungs prematurely and the
effects cannot be reversed.
It can lead to collapsed lungs, heart and brain problems and early death.
Dr Mike Morgan of the British Lung Foundation said: "It's very
worrying that Amy has it at her age. But we are seeing a lot more
young drug addicts with this condition."