Amy Winehouse Has Emphysema

Troubled Amy Winehouse could be confined to a wheelchair within a month if she doesn't stop smoking crack cocaine -- after it was revealed she has contracted the deadly lung condition emphysema.

Amy -- who was rushed to hospital after having a fit last week -- will reportedly need a permanent oxygen mask to survive unless she takes doctor's advice and gives up the deadly drug, Amy's dad revealed last night.

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper, taxi driver Mitch Winehouse told how watching his daughter deteriorate reminded him of his own 78-year-old mother struggling for breath on an aspirator before she died of lung cancer.

He explains, "To think this could be my beautiful 24-year-old daughter's life is preposterous.

"But if drugs mean more to her than breathing properly, then so be it. But the doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her. It's been a tough week."

Mitch also spoke of his fears as Amy underwent tests after a mystery lump was found on her chest during scans at private London hospital The Clinic.

He added, "After lots of tests they found a lump in Amy's chest. A scan has shown it's not cancerous and there are no traces of cancer in her blood. But they might need to double check.

"There is a chance she might need a biopsy. If they need to cut the lump out then that will mean a massive and painful operation and a lot of recuperation.

"At the moment that doesn't look likely.

"When they told me she had a lump, I was very, very worried. At times Amy seems nervous about it but she doesn't panic until something's 100 per cent."

Mitch also said how he recognized "warning signs" that Amy would have a seizure after noticing her eyes were squinting at a family lunch last Sunday.

He added, "When I saw her last Sunday lunch at her favorite Spanish bar in Camden she was just picking at her tapas and salad. Her eyes kept on squinting and flickering and I said to her then how that had happened the last time she had a seizure. I even called her manager Ray to tell him. Amy just brushed it off and said she had a headache.

"But the next day she collapsed. I got a call when I was out for lunch. An ambulance came but she sent it away.

"But she wanted to go to hospital this time and she could walk so I put her in the back of the cab. She didn't talk much and I could see her in the mirror falling asleep.

"When we got to the hospital a room was ready. Several doctors came in and checked to make sure she didn't need any emergency treatment. They put her on a drip straight away because she was dehydrated.

"She said, 'Don't worry about me, Dad. I know I've got to stop taking drugs now'. At the hospital we found she'd been awake for 48 hours.

"We can only speculate she'd been taking drugs all that time. She curled up in bed and went to sleep. In between tests, she slept for almost three days solid."

Mitch continued, "She's got emphysema. It's in its early stages, but had it gone on for another month they painted a very vivid picture of her sitting there like an old person with a mask on her face struggling to breathe.

"With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes her lungs are all gunked up. There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She's got 70 per cent lung capacity.

"Amy's now had every scan in the book - for her brain, on her lungs, her heart. She's having tests every day to monitor her heart rate. When she went into hospital she had irregular heartbeats. I was messing around and picked up a stethoscope and listened to her chest myself. It was all over the place. But they've now sorted that out with medication.

"That was likely to have been the drugs. But one step back, and it could be fatal."