Shirley Ballas launches new awareness campaign for her mother

Shirley Ballas is speaking up for the voiceless as she aims to raise awareness of the condition her mother has been living with for three years.

Strictly head judge Ballas cares for her mother Audrey, 88, who was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 2022, and it has also affected several members of the 65-year-old's family.

The multiple Latin world champion, who has been on Strictly Come Dancing for eight years, has now launched the Breathe Equal campaign in partnership with Sanofi to raise awareness of COPD and address stigma and inequalities in care.

"I want everybody in the country to have access to these tests for COPD," the Wallasey native said. "In certain parts of the country, they are more available than in others.

"I want to be a voice as a person who lives with it on a daily basis, to get the word out there. I want to improve the diagnosis rates, I want to get mandatory care for everybody, follow-up support, all the things that people can have that they perhaps don't know they can have.

"Strictly has given me a platform, that’s one of the reasons I was interested in it, and now we can go into parliament and talk about COPD.

"Otherwise, I would have had no voice. I am the voice for the people who don't get to have their own voice and for that I am really grateful."

COPD is a group of lung conditions, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, that cause the lungs to become inflamed and damaged and the airway to narrow, causing patients to become breathless.

It worsens over time and the symptoms, which also include frequent lung infections, persistent chesty cough and fatigue, place a substantial burden on patients' lives.

It is estimated there are over 1.4 million people in the UK diagnosed with COPD, with another two million people who could be living with the condition, and it is the second leading cause of emergency hospital admissions in the UK.

There is also a stigma attached to the disease, partly due to the association between smoking and COPD, but Ballas wants to remove that to ensure equal access to treatment.

She added: "My mum comes from a certain age, she doesn't want to be judged.

"Sometimes if we go out for dinner and she starts having a coughing fit, we have to take her outside, she is embarrassed for people that are eating their meal. Mum doesn’t want to go out much but will go out once a week with me.I imagine people who live on their own might not want to go out at all, . I would like everybody to have equal opportunity."

Shirley Ballas is supporting the Breathe Equal campaign in partnership with Sanofi, to raise awareness of COPD and address stigma and inequalities in care. For more information on COPD visit asthmaandlung.org.uk