Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he was “days away from death” after recently undergoing emergency heart surgery.
Jeremy Clarkson, former BBC Top Gear star PHOTO: archive
The former Top Gear presenter, 64, had to have the operation after a “sudden deterioration” of his health, and the star admitted: “It was about what.”
He began to feel ill after swimming in the Indian Ocean while on a “small island” on holiday, and later it was difficult for him to climb the stairs, writes dailymail.co.uk.
Clarkson returned to the UK and had a “sudden deterioration of health, which began to accelerate”, he feeling-felt “stiff in the chest” and “tingling and pins and needles in the left arm.”
He told The Sun: “I’m very grateful to everyone who sent me messages of support, but I’m fine. I just have to not do manual labor or empty the dishwasher for the next four years. At least that’s what I think the doctor said.”
The recent tragic death of former Scottish Prime Minister Alex Salmond following a massive heart attack prompted the motoring journalist to visit his GP.
Clarkson wrote in his editorial in The Sunday Times how he felt “almost dead” after returning to the beach after a short swim.
He spent the rest of his vacation on a tropical island, eating cheese and drinking wine.
It wasn’t until he returned to the UK and was loading 30 pigs into a vehicle that he felt pins and needles in his left arm.
He then went to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford by ambulance, where he had an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests and X-rays.
He stated that on Wednesday, after further checks, he was taken to a “operating room”, and the doctors told him that he was perhaps “a few days away” of death.
Once there, a stent was inserted to improve blood flow to the heart and relieve chest pains.
A stent is a tube that holds arteries open. To open the narrowed artery, the surgeon may perform what is called an angioplasty.
This involves making a small incision in the patient’s arm or leg, through which a wire is inserted up to the coronary arteries
Describing what he called “the tiring effects of agingClarkson said:It seems that of the arteries that feed my heart with nutritious blood, one was completely blocked, and the second of the three was going in the same direction.”
He said a stent, which can save lives and stop future heart attacks by improving blood flow to the heart, was fitted in about two hours.
The motoring journalist stated: “It wasn’t particularly painful. Just weird” and added that he thought: “God, it was just what it was.”
Clarkson concluded by saying that “wondering what water tastes like and whether it’s possible to make celery interesting” following the health scare, while he appeared to be considering cutting back on meat.
Fans were concerned two days ago when the veteran TV presenter appeared in an Instagram post wearing what appeared to be a surgical patch.
One asked: “How did you hurt your wrist, Jezza?”, while another felt that “the wrist injury is worrying’.
Nine days ago, Clarkson shared exotic photos on Instagram with “nine sunsets from an amazing vacation”, where the waves crashed against a sunny sandy beach.
Clarkson previously revealed she had to quit smoking after contracting pneumonia while on holiday in Spain.
Last month, Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left their show The Grand Tour on Prime Video.
Clarkson went on to present Clarkson’s Farm, which features him running his farm in Oxfordshire, on Prime Video, as well as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on ITV.
He recently opened a pub, called The Farmer’s Dog, in Asthall, near Burford, close to where he lives near Chipping Norton.
