Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he was ‘days away from death’ before recently undergoing emergency heart surgery.
The 64-year-old former Top Gear presenter had to undergo the procedure after a ‘sudden deterioration’ in his health, with the star admitting: ‘Crikey, that was close.’
He started feeling unwell after swimming on a ‘small island’ in the Indian Ocean while on holiday and later found it difficult to walk up some stairs.
Clarkson returned to Britain and a ‘sudden deterioration began to accelerate’, with him feeling ‘clammy’, a ‘tightness in the chest’ and ‘pins and needles in my left arm’.
The recent tragic death of Alex Salmond from a massive heart attack had prompted the motoring journalist to visit his GP.
Jeremy Clarkson has revealed he was ‘days away from death’ before recently undergoing emergency heart surgery
The 64-year-old former Top Gear presenter had to undergo the procedure after a ‘sudden deterioration’ in his health, with the star admitting: ‘Crikey, that was close’
Clarkson wrote in his column The Sunday times how he felt ‘mostly dead’ after returning to the beach after a short swim.
He spent the rest of his break on a tropical island, eating cheese and drinking wine.
It was only when he returned to Britain and loaded thirty pigs onto a ‘slaughterhouse school bus’ that he noticed pins and needles in his left arm.
He then went via ambulance to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where a heart attack was ruled out after undergoing an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood tests and X-rays.
He said that after further checks, he went to an “operating room” on Wednesday. Doctors said he may have been ‘days away’ from death.
Once there, he was fitted with a stent to keep his arteries open, improve blood flow to his heart and relieve his chest pain.
A stent is a wire mesh tube that supports open arteries. To open the narrowed artery, the surgeon can perform a so-called angioplasty.
This means making a small incision in a patient’s arm or leg through which a wire with a deflated balloon attached to it is passed to the coronary arteries
Clarkson described what he called the “exhausting effects of growing old”: “It seems that of the arteries which supplied my heart with nourishing blood, one was completely blocked and the second of the three went that way.”
The 64-year-old former Top Gear presenter started feeling unwell after swimming in the Indian Ocean while on holiday and later found it difficult to climb stairs
Fans were concerned two days ago when the veteran TV presenter appeared in an Instagram post wearing what appeared to be a surgical bandage
He said a stent was placed in about two hours, which could save lives and stop future heart attacks by improving blood flow to the heart.
The motoring journalist said: ‘It wasn’t particularly painful. Just strange,” adding that he thought: “Crikey, that was close.”
Clarkson concluded by saying he was “wondering what water tastes like and whether it is possible to make celery interesting” after the health scare, while appearing to consider reducing his meat intake.
Fans were concerned two days ago when the veteran TV presenter appeared in an Instagram post wearing what appeared to be a surgical bandage.
One asked, “How did you hurt your wrist, Jezza?” while another ‘found the wrist injury concerning’.
Clarkson shared exotic photos on Instagram nine days ago of “nine sunsets from an amazing vacation,” showing waves crashing against a sun-drenched sandy beach.
Clarkson previously revealed he 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 has continued to present Clarkson’s Farm, in which he runs 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, near where he lives, near Chipping Norton.
Former Scottish First Minister Salmond died earlier this month at the age of 69 in North Macedonia of a ‘major heart attack’.
The recent tragic death of Alex Salmond from a massive heart attack had prompted the motoring journalist to visit his GP (pictured here in 2011)