Mystery bug left me ‘so close’ to death, says TV host Bacon

TELEVISION presenter Richard Bacon has spoken of how he came “incredibly close” to death as he battled a mystery illness over the summer.

The TV presenter, 42, was rushed to hospital in London last month after falling ill on a flight from Los Angeles.

He was put into an induced coma for two weeks to save his life but doctors have still not been able to identify the exact nature of his illness.

Mr Bacon said he was hallucinating on the plane and felt freezing cold. He was so weak on landing he was taken off the plane in a wheelchair.

In an interview with The Times, the former Blue Peter host said he keeps thinking about the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, adding: “Of course, you think, in 1918 you can die from the flu.

“But in 2018, I can go into a hospital, aged 42, be that fit, and have all that modern equipment around me and still nearly die? I came that close. The first two nights, it was incredibly close.”

The consultant told Mr Bacon that his X-ray results were “horrible” and without an induced coma he may die.

After what the presenter estimates were 250 injections, the drugs began to fight the infection.

But he said waking after his twoweek long coma was the “worst day of my life”.

His wife, Rebecca, describes him as being “twitchy like a wild animal” as he began pulling all of his tubes out.

Mr Bacon, who is father to Arthur, six, and Ivy, four, said he wants to thank the NHS for saving his life.

He added: “I’ve decided to really, really embrace health from here on in.

“I’ve always drunk too much … I’m giving up drinking altogether forever as a result of what happened to me.

“Because if I don’t effect some sort of really, really positive change out of this, it’s a giant waste of everyone’s time.

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about anyway. I want to do something different, I want to look back in 10, 20 years and think, ‘This was the moment I changed my life.’”