England legend Stuart Pearce is back on the radio for England’s World Cup qualifier against Albania – less than three weeks after his health emergency forced a plane to land.
Pearce, 62, looked in good spirits as he announced he would be back on talkSPORT alongside Adrian Durham and the rest of the team on Friday evening.
On March 2, he was rushed to hospital after undergoing a health scare on a flight from Las Vegas to London.
He had attended the rugby league match in Las Vegas between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves in Vegas, but fell ill on on the flight home, prompting the Virgin plane to make an emergency landing in Newfoundland.
Of his speedy comeback, he said: ‘Stuart Pearce here, back on commentary, first one back since the venture in Canada, really looking forward to the game.
‘New manager in post, hopefully a high-octane performance by England, a victory to get us off and running in this campaign, and with Adrian Durham and the team, I’m looking forward to it and hope you are.’
It is thought the plane was at 30,000 feet when his illness caused a change of plan.
A source told the Sun that Pearce had appeared to become uncomfortable during the flight and his condition deteriorated as it continued.
On Monday March 10, it was revealed that Pearce had left hospital, and the next day he shared an update live on talkSPORT.
‘Absolutely brilliant. I went to meet my maker last week and it wasn’t God, it was actually Lord Jordan sat in his seat that I went to meet but he said your time’s not up big fella and sent me away,’ he joked.
‘But in all seriousness, I’m in good form. On the flight I had chest pains and stuff like that, the crew on Virgin were brilliant, looked after me fantastically, and just said: “look we’re not going to take the chance flying over the Atlantic, we’re going to drop you off.”
‘Five days in hospital, a few days out of hospital sat here, the only down side is our bags went on to London and the only thing we were left with was actually Martin Keown’s autobiography!
‘I can’t speak highly enough, I’ve had some brilliant messages from people, I been fortunate enough to get to watch a few games. I thought the Forest game against Man City was very very humbling. I saw that and all the bits and piece that came out of that.’
Forest fans and Man City fans alike sent well-wishes in the form of a minute’s applause at the start of their match recently, with supporters singing ‘Psycho, Psycho’ – Pearce’s iconic nickname – in the third minute.
When then questioned on what precisely went on when he realised there may be a health issue, he added: ‘My heart rate was racing. My resting heart rate from the time I was monitored on the airplane to the few days in hospital, my resting heart rate was anything above 155 bpm. It was ridiculous really.
‘Also my heart wasn’t pumping enough blood around the system by all accounts, and there was some swelling. They gave me medication to get that down.
‘At the end of the week too on Friday they said we’re going to stick a tube down your throat and if there’s no swelling around your heart, we’ll stop your heart and reboot it again, and that’s exactly what they did.
‘On Friday my heart went back to a normal rate and they released me the following day.
‘What they think is I’ve just got a virus, like head virus or something like that, I’ve got a virus that’s attached itself to my heart that just needed clearing, rebooting and going through the process.
‘When I get home I’ll have some medical checks and go see the GP and one or two other things, but I feel brilliant in myself and have done since mid-last week to be honest with you.
‘I’m in really good hands, the people in the hospital have been magnificent.’
Pearce was asked whether there were any medically-trained passengers on board that helped, which he ruled out before explaining how he was given oxygen and wired up to a cardiogram, with results wired down to a doctor on the ground.
He added that he requires a ‘medical chaperone’ to travel with him when he does return to the UK.
More to follow.
