A former I’m a Celebrity winner has opened up about the months he spent bed-bound with a life-threatening diagnosis.
The first I’m a Celebrity winner, Tony Blackburn, shared he was hospitalised earlier this year.
The BBC Radio 2 DJ had to stand down from his show and reschedule his Sound of the 60s Tour.
Tony Blackburn’s initial health issue
In February, he broke the news to fans via social media, admitting that he needed time off due to illness. At the time he said: “I hope to be back on the radio as soon as possible but it might be a few weeks…”
He added: “I want to thank all of the listeners who have sent their well-wishes and messages of support. I do read them all and it really means a lot.”
Tony has now shared an update and his original diagnosis was much worse than we thought.
Things took a turn for the worst
After overextending himself with his tour and radio show, his chest infection led to sepsis, pneumonia, and blood poisoning. Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection and knocked Tony out of commission.
On BBC Scotland, he said: “I was doing three a week at one time, forgetting that I’m now a little bit older, so I ended up in hospital for two months with sepsis and pneumonia and blood poisoning.”
Tony added: “And I didn’t realise how unwell I was until one day in the hospital, my whole family were gathered around the bed. And I thought this isn’t good. A couple of weeks ago I went to see my specialist and he said: ‘You are cured,’ so that was a nice thing to hear.”
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Tony was discharged from hospital in May. He has now recovered and is back on tour.
Doing one show a week, he said: “I haven’t been doing the [tour] show for about three months because I was told to rest a little bit. Now I’m back in form, and we’re selling out. Instead of doing three a week I’m just going to do one a week.”
Read more: I’m A Celebrity: All the winners listed and what they’re doing now
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