An opera singer is donating proceeds from her CD to a charity raising awareness about her father’s deadly lung disease.
Mezzo-soprano Emily Estelle is giving £1 from every copy of her album Rise Above to a pulmonary fibrosis charity after her father John Whetherall, 78, was diagnosed with the condition.
It kills 5,000 people a year and most sufferers are expected to live for only three years.
The singer, who has performed around the world, with Andrea Bocelli and at Wembley football finals, said she and her mother Susan, 68, struggled to cope following the diagnosis.
“I had no idea what it was. So I Googled it,” she said. “It was heartbreaking. How can you cope with the news there is no cure?”
Her father, who lives in Hertfordshire, took a turn for the worse last year after he travelled to the US to see her sing.
The former architect is now on oxygen and requires round-the-clock care.
Estelle, 28, of Balham, said: “He was very, very ill. We expected the worse. Now he is stable but his life is so different. He relies on someone to do everything.”
The singer is sending out copies of the album — which has classical and popular songs in an opera style — with leaflets about the disease. She is also asking people to donate to the charity, Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis.
Details at emilyestelle.co.uk and actionpulmonaryfibrosis.org/supporting-us/
