A former carer for Tina Turner talks about the icon's countless hospital stays. The nurse always accompanied the singer during her dialysis sessions - and remembers her discretion and sparkling eyes.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Tina Turner died at the end of May at the age of 83 after a long illness.
- Nurse Silvia Hudáčková has now spoken about the dialysis treatments during which she looked after the singer.
- Turner was always accompanied by her husband and always radiated friendliness, according to the hospital employee.
- Because of her kidney failure, the singer's blood had to be artificially purified. "Dialysis prolonged her life," says Hudáčková.
In the last few years before her death, Tina Turner had to undergo all kinds of procedures and treatments. For example, the pop icon received a kidney transplant from her husband Erwin Bach in 2017. Someone who she said was very close to her during this time was her nurse Silvia Hudáčková. She told the Slovakian newspaper "Plus 7 dni" how discreetly Tina Turner wanted to be treated.
Turner went to the dialysis center of a Swiss clinic on Lake Zurich three times a week to purify her blood. Due to the singer's kidney failure, the waste products had to be artificially removed from her body.
Hudáčková said that such treatment was exhausting and took up to four hours. And: "A person who goes on dialysis is fighting for survival".
"Dialysis has prolonged her life"
To protect her privacy - and state of health - Turner entered the hospital via a side entrance. Her real name, Bullock, was listed in the clinic's database. "The dialysis she came to us for prolonged her life. She lived for another six years," says the Slovakian.
Hudáčková worked as a nurse in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for around 20 years. She moved from Vienna to a similar facility on Lake Zurich and didn't know who she would be looking after: "If I hadn't known in advance who was coming, I probably wouldn't have recognized them."
Erwin Bach was always by her side
She didn't even talk to her relatives about her famous patient. "At the hospital, we were forbidden to talk about her - even to her family members. There was a strict gag order for Tina to ensure she had the peace and quiet she needed. During the entire therapy, we had to make sure that nobody found out anything about her, which we managed to do," she tells the Slovakian newspaper.
Turner also never turned up alone: Her husband Erwin Bach was present at every hospital visit, she says. The nurse described the relationship as "beautiful" and "special".
And although the rock star didn't wear her iconic wig in everyday life, "she was a good-looking woman, really pretty for her age. But what I remember most was her look and the sparkle in her eyes. I felt the kindness of her person."
When Tina Turner passed away at the end of May, Hudáčková was very saddened. "I cried and exchanged messages with my former colleagues. We assume that dialysis definitely prolonged her life."
More from the Entertainment section