- The 62-year-old felt unwell travelling back from a rugby league fixture in Vegas
- Pearce was reunited with one of the flight attendants during a recent interview
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Are Liverpool fans right to lambast Trent Alexander-Arnold?
Stuart Pearce had an emotional reunion with one of the cabin crew staff who helped with his worrying health scare at the start of the month.
The 62-year-old was unwell on the flight back to London on March 2 after he had attended the rugby league match in Las Vegas between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves.
The Virgin aircraft made an emergency landing in Newfoundland after Pearce fell ill on board.
The former left-back has made a recovery and was even on commentary duties for England’s 2-0 win over Albania in the weeks that followed.
On Monday morning, Pearce and his wife Carol made an appearance on ITV to discuss the worrying ordeal and thank the staff that helped with the situation.
Explaining the situation, Pearce said: ‘We went to Vegas for five days for the rugby. We’re Warrington Wolves fans so we went out to watch them play Wigan.
England legend Stuart Pearce provided a health update after a worrying scare this month
The former player and coach was reunited with cabin crew staff who helped attend to his issue
‘On the way back at the airport, my chest felt a little bit tight, little bit heavy. Thought it might just be indigestion or something of that nature. It felt as though someone was sat on my chest, if you like.
When asked whether he’d ever experienced issues with his heart before, Pearce replied: ‘Nothing at all (previous medical conditions). History with my family, nothing at all… I don’t drink, I don’t smoke.
He further recalled: ‘They looked after us, moved us forward up the airplane. Hooked me up to a ECG machine. My resting heart rate was 155bpm… I’ve never experienced anything like that…
‘They hooked up with the doctors, sent all the readings down and hooked me with oxygen.’
In a surprise to Pearce, the ITV crew then brought out flight attendant Zoe Anderson who was on hand at the time to help the former England boss.
After entering the set, she had a warm embrace with Pearce who said: ‘Great to see you!’. His wife looked visibly emotional as the thanked the staff member.
Explaining her side to the story, she said: ‘We are trained to deal with these situations. We go through quite extensive training so when things like this happen, we’re prepared to deal with it.
‘I sat down with Stuart and did the initial assessment because sometimes with chest pain it could be something simple. But after talking to Stuart it started to raise some alarm bells.
‘We had Stuart hooked up to an ECG monitor. I think we’re the only airline in the UK to have that equipment so we were able to send that straight down to the doctor.
Virgin cabin crew member Zoe Anderson reflected on the ordeal in a cameo on ITV
The England legend had become unwell while flying from watching rugby league in Las Vegas
‘My colleague Callum did the reading while I was in the cockpit talking to the doctors – so we had all the information to relay back and forth. When we were told they were abnormal, we made the decision that we didn’t want to be halfway across the Atlantic’.
It is thought the plane was at 30,000 feet when his illness caused a change of plan.
Making a final reflection on the incident, Pearce said: ‘There was a lot of Rugby League fans on there, so I think they had a little bit of sympathy with me because I was one of them!
‘I was in and out of consciousness and next thing I know we’re landing in Canada. I was trying to sleep it off’.
