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Will Mellor has claimed his sister was let down by her carers during a paid residential trip as she asked ‘Am I going to die?’ shortly before passing away from a heart attack.
His sister Joanne, who was born with complex disabilities, passed away in 2012 at the age of 44 in what Will believes were preventable circumstances.
The actor, 48, said that while she was away on a trip, the carer responsible for her care allegedly did not give her all the medication she needed and only gave her one tablet a day instead of her prescribed five.
Speaking to The Mirror to promote his new series, Cops Gone Bad, the star alleged: ‘He [the carer] told her she was a liar and didn’t talk to her very nicely.
‘And even though it was all written in black and white on the box, instead of giving her five a day, they gave her one a day.
‘And she came back and said, ‘am I going to die?’ My mum went mad and we got hold of the company and she died a few weeks later of a heart attack.’
Will Mellor has claimed his sister was let down by her carers during a paid residential trip as she asked ‘Am I going to die?’ before passing away from a heart attack
His sister Joanne, who was born with complex disabilities, passed away in 2012 at the age of 44 in what Will believes were preventable circumstances
The Mellor family demanded an inquiry to find out whether carers had contributed to Joanne’s death by ignoring written instructions from her doctors
A 2013 inquest found Joanne had died of natural causes. The coroner said there was no evidence the bungled medication had caused Joanne’s death, but she told her family that what had happened was unacceptable.
The company that provided the holiday admitted a ‘mistake was made’, but Will has said that he and his family still have unanswered questions.
The Strictly star previously revealed how grief and guilt took a toll on him and how he has since become an advocate for mental health awareness.
‘I felt guilty because I was her brother, and I couldn’t help her’, Will previously told The Mirror, adding: ‘She looked at me – even though I was her younger brother – because she was mentally disabled and physically disabled she was always like a child to me. And that killed me.’
The actor also opened up about how in the past he struggled to process grief, turning to drink and gambling after his sister’s death.
He admitted: ‘It’s really tough. Grief has a way of surprising you, it hides away. I thought that I was okay, I grieved the loss of my sister not too well. I turned to drink and gambling and all the things that I would advise against. But I didn’t know what to do.’
Will’s pain was compounded in April 2020 when his father, Bill, passed away from cancer just weeks after being diagnosed.
The loss was made even harder by strict Covid-19 restrictions at the time. ‘When I lost my dad I just cried when I felt like crying, I let it out. I didn’t hold it in, I just let it out,’ he said.
The actor, 48, alleged that while she was away on a trip, the carer responsible for her care did not give her all the medication she needed and only gave her one tablet instead of five
‘And I think with my sister I held it in, I tried to protect everybody else from grieving. I pretended I was okay when I was dying inside.’
The actor has since channelled his experiences into advocating for open conversations about mental health, particularly among men who may feel pressure to suppress their emotions.
