BBC Simpson almost dies in allergy shock
Twenty doctors in fight to save the life of legendary foreign correspondent, 72
VETERAN BBC broadcaster John Simpson nearly died after suffering a deadly allergic reaction, it can be revealed.
The foreign correspondent, who has reported from war zones across the world, was left battling for his life after a series of medical problems mounted up after he complained of feeling unwell.
A GP visited at home and immediately sent him to hospital where it was discovered that he was suffering from food poisoning and severe dehydration.
This combined with medication that Simpson routinely takes to cause an allergic reaction, which led to severe kidney problems.
The 72-year-old journalist then went into swift and dramatic decline in intensive care at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital on September 8.
Last night his wife, Dee Kruger, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It was like a perfect storm.
‘There was a whole chain of events that meant there was an overreaction on the kidney side which made him seriously ill.
‘From being mildly unwell the shocking thing was how, in the space of hours, his body went into a kind of acute shock. Suddenly these guys in the intensive care unit at the Radcliffe were fighting for his life.
‘At one point there were 20 people standing around his bed and one of the main guys saying they are reaching the limits of what they can do for him.
‘At first they were baffled,’ she said. ‘They didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t immediately obvious.
‘At one point they asked me if he had been exposed to radiation from having been in the Middle East recently. I had to ring his news producer and ask for a list of places where he had been.’
She added: ‘As John says, everyone complains about the NHS but, by God, it works.’
The broadcaster is expected to be discharged today.
He thanked staff at the hospital on Twitter with this post: ‘Thank heavens for Stuart McKechnie & the ICU team at the Radcliffe.
‘I’d not have survived, due to a rare & deadly allergic reaction.’
Simpson also thanked a wellwisher on Twitter, saying he was ‘almost back on track’.
In 2003, while covering the Iraq invasion, Simpson – the BBC World Affairs Editor – suffered shrapnel wounds and a damaged eardrum in his left ear after a bomb exploded next to him. His translator was killed.
‘I was about 12 yards away from a 100 lb bomb,’ he recalled. ‘It knocked me out and a friend pulled me away.
‘Eighteen people were killed. My translator had his legs blown off and died of blood loss almost immediately.’
Simpson has two daughters with his first wife. He married for a second time in 1996 to South African Dee, who used to be his producer. She is 19 years his junior. The couple have a ten-year-old son, Rafe.