Andrea McLean has confessed she was only 24 hours from death after being rushed to hospital with severe pneumonia and sepsis at the end of last year.
The former Loose Women presenter, 55, who quit the show in 2020, suffered a terrifying health ordeal after she was found collapsed at home by her husband in December.
And Andrea has now admitted she feels as though she has had a second chance at life as she said it’s ‘changed my life forever’.
Speaking to The Mirror, the star explained: ‘I didn’t realise how severe my illness was at the time. 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.’
She added: ‘What happened over the next few weeks changed my life for ever.’
In December Andrea collapsed with the flu and was lying on the floor for an hour before she was found by her husband.
Andrea McLean has confessed she was 24 hours from death after being rushed to hospital with severe pneumonia and sepsis as she admitted it has ‘changed my life forever’
The former Loose Women presenter, 55, who quit the show in 2020, suffered a terrifying health ordeal after she was found collapsed at home by her husband in December
She was then blue lighted to hospital where after a series of X-ray and CT scans they discovered she had severe pneumonia, Acute Kidney Injury and sepsis.
Explaining she has had Covid three times in the past as well as long Covid, when she caught the flu off her daughter she couldn’t fight it off and her ‘body just gave up’.
Reflecting on the terrifying ordeal she added: ‘It was only a few weeks after I got home that I realised the magnitude of what had happened – that if I hadn’t gone into hospital that day, I may not be here now.’
Andrea now wants to seize the day and focus on what is truly important to her after having such a scary brush with death.
The star spent four days in hospital and had to return every day in the week following to receive antibiotic drips.
And in February she still wasn’t back to full health after she told fans her life still wasn’t ‘back to normal’ as she expected it would be.
She also thanked her husband Nick who she said’s ‘life stopped’ during that time too as he drove her to the hospital everyday, waited for her at clinics four hours at a time and cooked everyone dinner, before putting her to bed.
But she was not feeling better just yet, as she added: ‘It’s now February, and I’m still not well enough to handle normal stuff like getting up and rushing out the door to do the jobs I’d been booked to do, because every part of that process would end with me falling down, or at the very least sitting on a tube station floor feeling very unwell and embarrassed at the stares.
The star explained: ‘I didn’t realise how severe my illness was at the time..What happened over the next few weeks changed my life for ever.'(Seen with husband Nick Feeney in November)
Andrea explained that in December she came down with the flu, but things got progressively worse
‘I’m still having ‘funny turns’ while out for a walk, or attempting the mildest of exercise.’
Andrea explained that in December she came down with the flu, but things got progressively worse.
‘I collapsed in the bathroom, and like the adverts you see on telly with the elderly, I lay there for an hour before my husband found me,’ she said.
‘We rang the GP who told us to call 999 immediately. The ambulance team were amazing. My blood pressure was so low I couldn’t stand, and I was in a lot of pain.’
She added: ‘Then my X-ray and CT scans came back. I had severe pneumonia, Acute Kidney Injury and sepsis.
‘Things happened quickly; drips, super-strong antibiotics via IV and orally, and I was transferred to the Emergency Assessment Ward.’
SIX MAJOR SIGNS OF SEPSIS
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused when the body releases chemicals to fight an infection.
These chemicals damage the body’s own tissues and organs and can lead to shock, organ failure and death.
Organ failure and death are more likely if sepsis is not recognized early and treated immediately.
Sepsis infects an estimated 55,000 ns each year, killing between 5,000 and 9,000 making it more than four times deadlier than the road toll.
The symptoms can look like gastro or flu and can become deadly, rapidly.
The six major signs of something potentially deadly can be identified by the acronym ‘SEPSIS’:
- Slurred speech or confusion, lethargy, disorientation
- Extreme shivering or muscle pain, fever or low temperature
- Pressing a rash doesn’t make it fade
- Severe breathlessness, rapid breathing
- Inability to pass urine for several hours
- Skin that’s mottled or discoloured
Children may also show convulsions or fits, and a rash that doesn’t fade when you press it – and more than 40 per cent of cases occur in children under five.
Anyone who develops these symptoms should seek medical help urgently — and ask doctors: ‘Could this be sepsis?’
Sepsis is a leading cause of avoidable death killing about 10,000 ns each year
The early symptoms of sepsis can be easily confused with more mild conditions, making it difficult to diagnose.
A high temperature (fever), chills and shivering, a fast heartbeat and rapid breathing are also indicators.
A patient can rapidly deteriorate if sepsis is missed early on, so quick diagnosis and treatment is vital – yet this rarely happens.
In the early stages, sepsis can be mistaken for a chest infection, flu or upset stomach.
It is most common and dangerous in older adults, pregnant women, children younger than one, people with chronic conditions or those who have weakened immune systems.