A bodybuilder whose family was told he may never wake from his coma competed in a competition less than two weeks later.
James Hall, 32, had made it his mission to get on stage to fulfil his grandfather’s ‘dying wish’.
He had been training for a contest for a full year before suffering two back-to-back seizures on August 13.
Mr Hall’s family were told he may have suffered permanent brain damage, a loss of personality and may never regain his memories.
But just 12 days later, he was on stage at the British Natural Bodybuilding Federation’s (BNBF) Northern Championship in St Helens, Merseyside.
The bodybuilder, who suffers from epilepsy, said his memory of the day is very hazy and he started to lose grasp on reality.
He said: ‘I don’t quite know how I cycled to the gym as I kept blacking out part-way through. I was so dizzy because I had no electrolytes in my system.
‘I knew it but didn’t quite register that I was doing it. That is a classic symptom of when my epilepsy is about to kick in. All I was thinking was that I had to get to this final gym session. I only had one goal for the whole year.’
Mr Hall, who is from Leeds and works as an intelligence analyst, hadn’t had an epileptic seizure for three years before the incident.
But leading up to the bodybuilding contest, known as ‘peak week’, Mr Hall stripped his diet down in order to lose as much fat as possible so he would look more defined.
He said he felt like he was ‘starving’ during this time and made up for the lack of food by drinking lots of water and decaffeinated coffee.
On the day of his seizures, he’d had ten litres by lunchtime and was flushing out electrolytes out of his body.
After arriving at the gym, he attempted his first workout but felt dreadful so asked at the reception if he could lie down in the physio room which is where he had the first seizure.
‘I have no memory of it,’ he added, ‘when I came out, the guy on the front desk – who had seen quite a few seizures before – he told me later on, it looked more like I’d had a stroke. I had drool coming down one side of my mouth and I’d completely wet myself.
‘Thankfully, the gym owner, Tony, who I’ve known since 2018, he walked in as soon as I’d come out and drove me straight to Burmantofts Health Centre. To this day, I have no memory of what happened during that stretch of period.’
After arriving at a walk-in clinic, Mr Hall had a second seizure while using the toilet.
Staff found the bodybuilder ten minutes later, belly down on the floor with his head against the wall.
Mr Hall was transported to St James’ Hospital in Leeds and his family and loved ones were informed that Mr Hall had suffered two back-to-back sodium seizures.
His sodium levels were at 116mg, with the lowest safe levels considered to be around the 130mg mark.
The bodybuilder wouldn’t wake up for another 18 hours and his family were told to anticipate the worst.
Mr Hall continued: ‘The doctors told all of them that sodium seizures are one of the most dangerous seizures possible and they can result in death. He said there’s a possibility I may never wake up and if I do wake up, I may be permanently brain damaged and if I avoided the brain damage, I may never recover my personality or worse.
‘They were all in tears. I felt extremely guilty after this with what I’d put them through. I shouldn’t be here today. The odds of me being able to survive that from what the doctors were alluding to is ridiculous.’
Fortunately, Mr Hall awoke the next morning, surrounded by his family and loved ones.
‘I didn’t feel rough,’ Mr Hall said, ‘I felt OK. I turned to my family and I told them I was still doing the show. They were not happy! They were irate. My best friend gave me an absolute tongue lashing telling me I was ‘not doing the show’. Fortunately, we’re as stubborn as each other so I held my ground.’
Mr Hall was supposed to attend the BNBF contest in the Midlands that weekend.
But instead, he agreed to take part in the Northern competition in Merseyside 12 days later instead.
The reason he felt so determined to make it to the contest was because of his late grandad Bill Fotherby who died in 2019.
Bill, a former managing director of Leeds United FC and later chairman of Harrogate Town FC, had inspired James to push himself to be in the best shape possible.
Mr Hall said: ‘I wanted to end things on my own terms. If I had not competed, then the ‘accident’ and everything I had done would have been a mistake. But, if I’d have turned up and competed at the show, it wouldn’t have been a mistake. It would have been a lesson.. I was desperate for that to happen.
‘The lesson was to learn more about that body as regards to water, sodium and electrolytes. As a result, I understand a lot more about electrolyte balance and I am not making that mistake again.’
Mr Hall added: ‘If anyone has a particular goal or a dream and they’ve got anything that is stopping them or getting in the way, it can always be overcome. I went through a coma, but I still ended up getting on stage. Your body and your mind can go through a lot but if you keep being persistent, it can always be overcome. Just don’t make the mistakes I did.’