BBC presenter struck down by Legionnaires
ABBC presenter caught Legionnaires’ disease while on holiday in Majorca and ended up having to spend a week in intensive care.
Points West presenter David Garmston said he had a wonderful family holiday to the Spanish island in August but, having felt fine during his time abroad, he started to feel unwell when he came back.
The broadcaster said at first he thought it was just anxiety caused by all the additional stresses of going abroad during the pandemic, such as forms and covid tests.
Apart from feeling very anxious, Mr Garmston said he was also coughing and couldn’t breathe very well so he took a couple of lateral flow tests and they came back negative.
He ended up passing out on the bed, with his family calling an ambulance at this point.
Describing finding out he had Legionnaires’ disease, the 63-yearold said: “It turned out that I was incubating this rather nasty disease.
“The next thing I remember an ambulance arrived, although I can barely remember that, and then I woke up in hospital.
“I just put it down to being a bit anxious about things but I was obviously quite ill at that time and didn’t realise it.”
Mr Garmston said that when he arrived at the Bristol Royal Infirmary he was asked where he had been on holiday and, telling them he had been to Spain, they checked him for Legionnaires’ disease.
He said the disease is very rare, with only around 200 people a year contracting it in the UK.
He said he was put on antibiotics and, as he was still having difficulties breathing, he was moved from a respiratory ward to the intensive care unit (ICU) as a precaution in case he needed to be ventilated.
He spent a week in ICU, he said, and wished to thank all the staff at the hospital.
Mr Garmston added: “The nurses held my hand for a week, day and night.
“I just cannot thank them enough. They were magnificent and so were all the staff. I was very well looked after.
“The tea ladies in particular were amazing. They brought me so many cuppas and custard creams and gave us a laugh every day.”
Mr Garmston, who has been at Points West since 1985 and has been a regular presenter for many years, said he didn’t need to be ventilated in the end, but that he was on oxygen during the two weeks he spent in hospital.
He did not think his life was ever in danger but that it was frightening, particularly for his family.
Mr Garmston said it was a nasty scare and warned people travelling abroad to be careful with air conditioning as that is where he thinks it may have come from, even though Public Health England was unable to find the source.
He is still feeling a bit tired, he continued, but is now feeling pretty much back to normal and is hoping to go back to work soon.
Mr Garmston, who lives in central Bristol, said: “The viewers have been amazing; they have written in asking where I am.
“I didn’t think anyone would notice I was off, but they have and I am incredibly grateful.
“It is a real boost that they have noticed and that they have cared.”
He added: “Everyone in the Points West family has been great as well. They have been really nice – more than I deserve.
“When they said people were writing in, I didn’t believe them.
“I thought they were just saying it to make me feel better, but it is a wonderful feeling actually that people had missed me.
“I feel very close to viewers, I feel they are part of the family really so I am really grateful.”