It’s a cruel disease, but she still feels ‘lucky’ to have him

Radio host and This Morning presenter Sian Welby recently opened up about how parenting her baby daughter while sustaining her career means she feels guilty about how little she sees her dad.

Sian gave birth to her daughter, Ruby, in June last year, adding at the time that she was “loving every second despite it being absolute carnage at times”.

Sadly, because of his dementia, her dad doesn’t know her daughter’s name. Still, she feels “very lucky” that he has reached a stable stage where he’s not getting much worse.

But that doesn’t detract from the guilt she feels for not seeing him as often as she’d like, as she recently explained to the Independent.

The Nottingham-born TV presenter has spoken openly about her dad’s condition over the last year or two (Credit: This Morning/YouTube)

Ian Welby’s five-year struggle with dementia, cancer, Covid, sepsis and pneumonia

Around 2020, Sian’s dad Ian Welby was diagnosed with dementia. Like other neurodegenerative diseases, dementia is characterised by the ongoing decline of brain function.

Two years later, Ian battled cancer and Covid at the same time. Shortly afterwards, he received diagnoses of sepsis and pneumonia – in both lungs. His weight dropped to six and a half stone, and the family feared he might not make it.

Fast forward to mid 2025 and it’s a day-to-day struggle with his dementia.

“On a good day, you probably wouldn’t even know he had dementia, but on a bad day, and when you’re living with it like my mum is, it’s hard. It’s hard on the families because it’s Groundhog Day every day. Oh, it’s a cruel disease,” Sian – who hosts the Summertime Ball today (June 22) – said.

This Morning featured a short film about how the family is coping with Ian Welby’s dementia last year (Credit: This Morning/YouTube)

Sian Welby in a ‘really difficult position’

About a year ago, Sian gave birth to her baby daughter Ruby. On top of parenting duties, she has a career to uphold, which requires her to be in London. Her dad lives with her mum Helen in a village in Nottinghamshire – many miles away from London.

As a result, Sian is unable to see her dad, and support her mum, anywhere near as much as she would like.

“You don’t feel like you’re giving anyone enough time,” she said, adding that it is becoming “really difficult to juggle” the various elements.

Father and daughter remain close, despite the obstacles (Credit: This Morning/YouTube)
It comes with guilt, she added, because if she lived around the corner, she could pop in every day. But to do her job, on Capital FM and This Morning, she needs to be in London. And to support her future family, she feels that she needs to work on her career.

All in all, “it’s a catch 22, a really difficult position to be in”. And yet, “by being down here, I’m not seeing my mum, my dad, my sister, my niece and nephew as much as I’d like to. So yeah, it’s hard.”

Some days it works. Other days, it doesn’t work quite as well. But she’s still loving being a mum, and that may be the most important thing.