Richard Bacon has started therapy to try to heal the "psychological scars" from his near-death experience.
Richard Bacon
The 42-year-old presenter nearly died earlier this month when he spent 12 nights in intensive care fighting a life-threatening infection, and while the infection is "completely gone", he is still battling the mental effects of the ordeal.
He said: "I'm alive - that's the key thing. It's tiring. I'm out of the coma, I'm out of the emergency. I spent 12 nights in intensive care and the last two nights in the high-dependency unit.
"I've now started therapy. In many ways you're still in the thick of it. I can't eat properly, I don't sleep properly. The infection is completely gone and it's over, but it's dealing with the psychological scars."
The former 'Blue Peter' host was in hospital making plans for lunch the next day when he was told he was "probably going to die" unless he was put into a coma for "at least a week", and he was surprised to have just 20 minutes to make calls before he was put under.
He said: "I did a walk in at Lewisham Hospital, and that's when it all kicked off.
"I said I was short of breath and they recognised the severity straight away. They took me into a room and started doing this battery of tests. It was the X-ray that did it.
"I said to Rebecca, 'Hey, do you think we'll make that lunch with our friends tomorrow?' At that point this consultant turned up, the lead consultant for intensive care. He's just this man I love - he's terrific.
"He said, 'I've looked at the X-ray. It's horrible. If we don't put you in a coma for at least a week, you're probably going to die.'
"It was the most shocking moment of my life.
"I thought when he said they were going to put me under for a week to 10 days they would be doing it about three hours later. I said, 'Have I got time to make some calls?'
"He said, 'It's so bad we need to do it in the next 20 minutes.'
"It was absolutely overwhelming."
Richard admits he regrets not going straight to A&E when he was suffering from shortness of breath, and believes he is "too optimistic" in life.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, he added: "I was flying home from America when I started to hallucinate and it felt like winter on the flight.
"I did feel a bit funny before the flight. The flight was the worst of my life.
"My mistake was not going straight to A&E. I would urge anybody who is short of breath to go straight to A&E.
"I've really embraced fitness this year, plus I'm too optimistic. But there are downsides - it means you are not realistic, and certainly not pessimistic."
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