Stricken presenter’s mother thanks NHS

THE MOTHER of TV presenter Richard Bacon has thanked NHS staff for saving her son’s life after he was placed in a medically induced coma.

Bacon, 42, fell ill while flying to Britain from the US and was taken off the plane in a wheelchair before being admitted to hospital two weeks ago. The ex- Blue Peter presenter is recovering at home.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Christine Bacon praised staff at University Hospital Lewisham in south-east London.

She told the newspaper: “He was incredibly poorly. We think it was double bronchitis. It’s a good job he was in this country. Had he been in LA I wouldn’t have been able to see him.

“The NHS have done a great job... He was in a coma, with loads of wires in him and we knew it was critical.

“Being a mother, you can’t imagine losing your kids. As a mother you can’t let yourself really consider that you’re going to lose him, there’s nothing worse.”

On Saturday, Mrs Bacon tweeted a touching picture of the pair together, with her arms draped over the TV presenter. Bacon wore sunglasses and had a plaster on his neck.

On Thursday, he emerged from hospital accompanied by his wife Rebecca, walking with the aid of a frame.

Before leaving the ward, Bacon, father to Arthur, six, and Ivy, four, tweeted that he was “cleared for take off ”, along with a picture of his hospital bed.

He added: “Gone within the hour. I don’t know whether I see this as the bed I nearly died in or the bed that saved my life.

“Either way. I won’t miss it. But I will miss the 50 staff of Lewisham Hospital who definitely saved my life. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.”