Loose Women star gives health update after revealing she ‘nearly died’
Loose Women presenter Andrea McLean has provided a health update after collapsing at home and being rushed to hospital.
The 55-year-old, who has previously struggled with her health, was diagnosed with severe pneumonia, acute kidney injury and sepsis, after undergoing a series of tests, she revealed last month.
At the time, she recalled laying in the bathroom for an hour before being discovered by her husband.
Now, the mother-of-two has revealed she nearly died in the incident.
“I didn’t realise how severe my illness was at the time,” she told The Mirror. “But the doctors had told my husband, Nick, that had I not got to hospital when I did, had we waited another 24 hours to call for help, I may not be here now.”
The close call gave her a new lease of life as she said: “There are rarely second chances in this life, so as I began to regain my strength I knew I had to seize the day and focus on what I really want to do. I very nearly died.”
She explained: “I got up to go to the bathroom and just fell to the floor. By the time the paramedics arrived, they said my blood pressure was so low they had to stabilise me before moving me.
“Our bedroom is in the loft and they couldn’t get the stretcher around the tight bend, but eventually I managed to slide down the stairs, and was rushed to hospital. What happened over the next few weeks changed my life forever.”
McLean, who has suffered with long Covid, explained that the condition had left her immune system weaker. She believes that her hospital visit was caused by a “nasty flu” that led to complications for her.
“I’ve had Covid three times and suffered long Covid which left me perpetually exhausted and with an underlying weakness so I seemed to pick every little bug up,” she said.
“I haven’t felt quite right for a very long time, so when my husband and daughter contracted that nasty flu going around in December, I of course caught it too.
“But it lingered with me. I just couldn’t shift it, and it all came to a head the morning I fell to the floor. My blood pressure was 60/40 – it is still very low now – and I think my body just gave up.”
Throughout January, the presenter revealed that she was required to be in and out of hospital but once she returned home she “realised the magnitude of what had happened.”
McLean said that the experience caused a change in her life: ”That scary, horrible moment was a turning point, it has led to now and I am feeling really positive about where I am going.”
