TV host’s trip to country that almost cost her life BRAVE CHARLIE BACK IN BRAZIL
ED GLEAVE TELLY host Charlie Webster is returning to Brazil months after malaria left her close to death at the Rio Olympics.
She contracted the tropical disease after a 3,000-mile charity cycle ride in August.
But Charlie wouldn’t let the ordeal stop her signing up for a new TV project that will be filmed there.
Charlie, 34, told the Daily Star Sunday: “Something has come up that would mean going back to Brazil. Initially I just thought ‘no’.
“I mean, when I first got out of hospital I said I’d never travel again and I’d stop doing challenges and calm down a bit.
“But now I’m better that’s gone out of the window. So I’ll go back to Brazil – 100%. I’m not going to let what happened to me stop me from doing it.”
Malaria caused all of Charlie’s organs to fail – bar her brain and heart – and she was put in a coma.
The brave Sheffield lass survived against the odds but is now battling PTSD and fatigue.
She said: “I was back in hospital last week to have tests done. I’ve got quite a few deficiencies. I had to have permanent blood transfusions while I was out in Brazil because I had no red blood cells and that was killing me.
“And I still have problems with that, so I get fatigue. Also, I am emotional because I’m suffering from PTSD at the moment. I have a kidney problem as well.
“Sometimes I get scared by that because I know how close I was to dying. Sometimes it gives me horrible flashbacks where I feel like if it happens to me again I might not be here anymore.”
Coming so close to death has changed Charlie’s outlook on life. She added: “I’ve realised I’m not indestructible.
“I’ve realised life is too short. When I was lying there thinking I was going to die I was thinking ‘no, no, I haven’t done enough. I’ve got so many goals. I can’t possibly go’. It’s made me realise how much of a thirst for life I have.
“I feel really proud because I know what I went through and where I was three months ago and also that my family were told on one day that I wouldn’t last 24 hours but if I did I would be braindamaged.
“The fact that I’m here and I am not having to be looked after by my mum and I can be independent means so much to me.”