Natasha Kaplinsky describes husband’s fight with long Covid

The former BBC newsreader spoke at length about the “frightening” experience as her husband Justin Bower struggled with the illness.

The couple, along with their children, spent lockdown at their home in the Sussex countryside.

Natasha Kaplinsky has written after her husband's battle with Covid in a new book

Their farm is just a short distance from where Natasha grew up in Barcombe.

Writing in her new book Letters from Lockdown, the 48-year-old says Justin still suffers from long Covid, even though he had no pre-existing conditions and is fit and active.

She writes: “There are times when he literally just goes to bed for a week and feels dreadful.”

Natasha's children reading her new book Letters from Lockdown

However, she adds, “I cannot tell you how much gratitude we have to NHS key workers. They’ve certainly got us through the pandemic.

“We feel so lucky because there are many who haven’t had the happy ending that we have.

• READ MORE: Natasha Kaplinsky describes husband’s fight with coronavirus

“We are all here together and we are so aware of the sacrifices that have been made through the pandemic and the price people have paid and the hardships that will exist for a very long time post-pandemic.”

Natasha said her children received a letter from Ed Sheeran

Justin developed a temperature at the beginning of the first lockdown in March last year it raised alarm bells for the family.

Natasha writes: “He just went downhill really badly, had a really high fever for 10 days.

“I was actually genuinely quite frightened. I was changing his bed sheets every two hours.

“We knew there was a pandemic and we’d been shut down, but because there was so little testing we couldn’t confirm he had Covid, although he had all the signs.

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“He didn’t have a cough, but later on his body was covered in spots and it was at that point I dialled 999.

“The paramedics arrived in full PPE. It was a very shocking experience and he took a long time to get better.”

The TV presenter’s new book, Letters from Lockdown, is a collection of over a hundred letters from front-line workers and famous faces reflecting on the funny, sad, heroic and unexpected experiences brought about by the pandemic.

Natasha said her years spend in the TV industry, doing favours for people, helped her to secure some high-profile names.

She said: “This was my time to call in my favours. I was thrilled that Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates responded.

“I’ve interviewed them a number of times, as well as Richard Branson. A lot of them are contacts, having been in the business for many years.”

Natasha said her children, Arlo and Angelica, were also hugely excited to receive a letter from Ed Sheeran.

She said: “He wrote such a beautiful letter [about how] he’d contacted the people who made his guitars and set about a DIY project to create a crib for his daughter made from the same cherry wood. How beautiful is that?”