Stand-up comic now living healthier lifestyle after suffering mini-stroke
The first day of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a big date in the diary for many of Scotland’s stand-up comics. But when Raymond Mearns woke up at his home in Glasgow he felt far from ready for the fray at the other end of the M8 motorway.
Despite experiencing crushing head pains, he made it through to Edinburgh for two appearances on the Friday night, despite struggling to drive. But after experiencing the same problems on the Saturday and Sunday, his wife Annie insisted that he visited hospital. By the Sunday night, and after a CT scan, he was coming to terms with being told that he had suffered a stroke two days earlier.
He said: “I woke up on that Friday morning feeling absolutely awful. It was like somebody had put my head in a vice and was crushing it. It was horrible. I was in a lot of pain and wasn’t very good on my feet. I did two gigs and left Edinburgh around midnight to drive back. I was still feeling terrible, but thought it would pass.
“When I woke up on the Saturday there was no change. I just presumed it was stress-induced. I didn’t think it was serious. Over the years I’ve suffered from stress and anxiety, but have just suffered in silence and got on with it.
“I went through to Edinburgh to do another show. When I got back to Glasgow I had a couple of drinks and then went to bed thinking: ‘This’ll pass.’ When I woke up on the Sunday morning, I felt the same and just thought: ‘What the f *** is going on here?’
"When I was doing the gigs in Edinburgh I was struggling to get some of my words out. I actually fell over on stage at The Stand. Anybody watching me might have thought I was p ***** .
“I was miscontrolling the car on the Friday and Saturday, and miscontrolled it to such an extent on Sunday morning that I nearly crashed it. Annie said to me: ‘There’s something wrong with you. We’re going up to the hospital.’ When I went up to the counter in accident and emergency I actually said I thought I’d had a stroke. A nurse and doctor both had a look at me and couldn’t find anything. I said to them: ‘I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with me.’
“They said they’d do a CT scan and take it from there. They clocked it straight away. The doctor came in and said: ‘Mr Mearns, you’ve had a stroke. Take this big dose of Aspirin immediately – we’re going to admit you’.” Glasgow-born Mearns, who has been one of the most popular performers on Scotland’s stand-up scene for more than 20 years, was forced to cancel his entire run at the Beehive Inn, despite his initial hopes of making a swift comeback.
He said: “I’d already cancelled my gig on the Sunday. When I got admitted I thought I’d better cancel the next few days. When the doctor came round I told him I had a Fringe show to do but he said: ‘Forget it. You’re going nowhere’.”
Mearns was told he had suffered a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), which is caused by a temporary disruption in the blood supply to part of the brain.
He said: “I had what they call a mini-stroke. It wasn’t life-threatening. It was more than an inconvenience, but it could have been a lot worse.
“I thought I was going to die on the Sunday night
– it was horrendous. The first 24 hours was brutal. I felt that something had fundamentally shifted and I came face-to-face with my own mortality for the first time.”
Mearns made a swift recovery, returning to live gigs less than two months later and has been performing regularly ever since, and even making light of his health scare on stage.
Speaking ahead of two Glasgow International Comedy Festival shows at The Stand, Means admits he had “a hell of a fright” last August, which has prompted him to live a much healthier lifestyle.
He said: “I was papped out of hospital after six days. I was very, very fortunate. There were some seriously ill gentlemen in my ward. You better believe I had a shock. I got a hell of a fright. Even though I was 55 at the time, you just think that you’re indestructible. But you know in your own heart when you’re overdoing it.
“When a nurse or a doctor asks you the question, despite the need to be candid or honest, you’re still embarrassed enough to lie like f ***. I’m living a very different lifestyle now. I don’t bevvy as much or as often. That’s the big one.
“I’m eating a lot more fresh food and I’m eating less. There’s the odd day when I drink more than I should and eat like a horse, but there’s definitely been a change. I’m trying to find things to eat that are incredibly healthy and I’ve been doing a lot more walking.”
Mearns was inundated with messages of support from fellow comics and fans after announcing news of his stroke on social media. More than £14,000 was raised via a crowdfunder to help him handle the sudden loss of income, while Greg McHugh, Frankie Boyle, Susie McCabe and Fred MacAulay appeared at a benefit.
Earlier this month Mearns was named by the comedy festival as one of six contenders for its Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award.
Mearns said: “In a weird way, having a stroke has been a really good thing for me. It’s made me appreciate things more. It sounds like the kind of thing you’d see in a movie, but I mean it.”
In a weird way, having a stroke has been a really good thing