Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson has appealed for help after her car, containing important medical equipment for her daughters, was stolen.
The singer revealed in January that her twin baby daughters Ocean Jade and Story Monroe had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare genetic condition that causes progressive muscle wastage.
She has been very open about the challenging process of adapting to life taking care of the girls, and has become a public advocate for those suffering from SMA, but on Sunday (April 19), she revealed that some of the essential equipment needed for her to treat her daughters has been stolen after her car was taken from her driveway.
Writing on her Instagram Stories, Nelson said that her black Land Rover Defender with the registration plate JJ73SSY was “stolen off of my drive way in the early hours of the morning” in Brentwood, Essex.
“Please if any of you have seen or know of any information, can you DM me or contact the police,” she wrote. “I have so much of my girls’ hospital equipment in that car that’s really needed.”
When she first shared the news of her daughters’ condition in January, she outlined what she said had been “the most gruelling three, four months and endless appointments”, before confirming that she had been told that her daughters are suffering from “SMA type 1”.
“It does affect every muscle in the body, down to legs, arms, breathing, swallowing,” she said, adding that both daughters were struggling to feed properly or move their legs freely.”
Nelson also said that doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital informed her that the girls were “probably never going to be able to walk. They probably will never regain their neck strength, so they will be disabled.”
In April, she celebrated a government ruling that newborn babies would introduce screening for SMA from October this year, after moving it forward from 2027. “We need to keep pushing to make sure every baby has the opportunity to have this heel prick test at birth,” she said.
According to the charity SMA UK, an estimated 47 babies were born with the condition in the UK in 2024, although roughly one in 40 people carry the gene that can cause the disease.
Nelson departed Little Mix in 2020 after reasoning that being in the girl group had taken a “toll” on her mental health. She released her first solo single, ‘Boyz’, featuring Nicki Minaj, in 2021, followed by ‘Bad Thing’ in 2023.
