MY BRUSH WITH DEATH
Khan’s trainer Hunter reveals how an allergic reaction left him fighting for his life in a coma
AMIR KHAN’S trainer Virgil Hunter has revealed how close he came to dying when he suddenly took ill.
Hunter is back training Khan for his April 20 clash with Terence Crawford at Madison Square Garden a year after he collapsed at home and fell into a coma.
Speaking for the first time about his brush with death, Hunter says he suffered a severe allergic reaction to a steroid he took for back pain ahead of a fight in New York.
Hunter was fortunate his wife discovered him. He said he dreads to think what might have happened if he had passed out 24 hours earlier when boxing mogul Al Haymon had advised him to shut himself away in a hotel to rest.
“My wife called and I didn’t answer,” said the American cornerman. “She called two more times and something told her something wasn’t right.
“She left her job to come to the house to find me collapsed on the stairs. I’d been there for about an hour-and-a-half.
“The Deca (steroid) raised my blood sugar to 1,400, which is stroke zone, heart-attack zone, organ shutdown.
“As I lay on the stairs, I was already in a coma. I was in a diabetic coma for about a week.
“My kidneys had shut down,
vand I’d had a mild heart attack. I often think back to when Al kept me back in New York to rest those two days. I had a donot-disturb sign on the door.
“I thought to myself, ‘Man, what if I had passed out then?’
“Nobody would have knocked on the door until it was time to check out. By then I could have been in a coma overnight and it could have been really bad, so I’m thankful it happened when it happened.
“The good Lord gave my wife
Andre Ward (below, 19942017)
Amir Khan (2012-Present) Mike Dallas Jr. Brandon Gonzales Alfredo Angulo Karim Mayfield Chazz Witherspoon Demetrius Andrade (2013) Argenis Mendez (2013) Andre Berto (2013) Abner Mares (2014) Nicola Adams (right, 2017) Marlo Moore (2005) the insight to know something wasn’t right.”
The veteran trainer, 65, was so badly affected that he had to learn to walk again, but he amazed his doctor by recovering well ahead of schedule and is now back to full health to train Khan at his gym in Oakland, California
“I had to learn how to walk again,” said Hunter as he chatted in his office, surrounded by photos of his music idols, such as Miles Davis and Billie that Holiday, and his mostcelebrated fighter Andre Ward
“I remember a therapist came to my bedside with a walker. I said, ‘What’s this for?’ and they said I had to start learning how to walk again.
“I said, ‘You’ve got to be joking, I can walk.’
“I got up to sit on the side of the bed but I couldn’t stand up. That triggered me to really push because I was thinking about all the people in my gym. That gave me courage and I started pushing, pushing, pushing.
“My doctor said in all his years, he’s never seen anyone recover as quickly as I did and I was back in the gym in nine or 10 weeks.
“I’m good now – I’m 100 per cent.”
■ AMIR KHAN challenges undefeated Terence Crawford for the WBO world welterweight belt, live on BT Sport Box Office, Saturday April 20. For more information go to btsportboxoffice