Ed Davey holds again tears as he speaks about his disabled son
Sir Ed Davey struggled to hold back tears as the Liberal Democrat leader revealed one of his ‘biggest fears’ is what will happen to his disabled son when he is gone.
The former Cabinet minister spoke in an emotional TV interview about John, 16, who can’t walk and has only limited speech due to a neurological condition.
‘He’s going to need 24/7 care for the rest of his life, I worry about who is going to look after him,’ Sir Ed told ITV.
He also said he felt ‘a duty’ to stand up for carers during the general election campaign due to his personal experiences.
Sir Ed was only four when his father died and still a teenager when his mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. His wife, Emily Gasson, has multiple sclerosis.
Sir Ed Davey struggled to hold back tears as the Liberal Democrat leader revealed one of his ‘biggest fears’ is what will happen to his disabled son when he is gone
Sir Ed took last weekend off from election campaigning in order to care for John, as he described being a father as ‘the most joyful and important thing I do’
Speaking about raising John together, Sir Ed told ITV Tonight’s The Leader Interviews: ‘My wife has MS so she can do quite a bit but she can’t do some things.
‘My day tends to start with getting him out of bed, taking him to the toilet, taking his nappy off to give him a shower and cleaning his teeth.
‘We massage him every day keep his limbs supple. He’ll wake up between 5.30 and 6 o’clock and shout for his daddy, so his daddy has to get up and start that routine.’
Sir Ed took last weekend off from election campaigning in order to care for John, as he described being a father as ‘the most joyful and important thing I do’.
‘One of my biggest fears in life is what happens to him when I’m gone,’ he added.
‘I reflect on what my mother thought. I remember I’d been on a school trip to Germany when she was ill and I took a picture of me and this German girl – we’d spoken for about five minutes, it wasn’t anything more than that.
‘I showed my trip photos to my mum, and she said to me, ‘I wonder who you are going to end up with?”
As his voice cracked with emotion, Sir Ed added: ‘It’s slightly different with John – because he’s going to need 24/7 care for the rest of his life, I worry about who is going to look after him.
‘No one is going to love him or hold him like I or my wife hold him, so we think about that.
‘I’m sure all parents think about that, in some way, but when you’ve got a child that’s so vulnerable with special needs, it’s particularly pertinent.
‘I think caring and carers is something that I almost have a duty to stand up for and talk about.’
