Kristina Roberts
Television host Jeremy Clarkson recently divulged that his health took a nasty turn in the past for him to have a heart procedure. The 64-year-old television personality, who gained fame from the airing of Clarkson’s Farm and Top Gear, made detailed comments about the whole experience in the article written by him for The Sunday Times. Describing the uncomfortable symptoms, he says: “I felt ‘clammy,’ a feeling of ‘tightness’ in my chest, and ‘pins and needles’ in my left arm.” These symptoms appear some time after his return from holiday.
He narrated that he had gone to the hospital after he began feeling sick, where he was taken via an ambulance and a stent was installed there. A stent is the placement of a small tube in an artery to prevent narrowing or blockage, and it keeps the artery open with more blood flowing in. In reflection on his incident, Clarkson said: “I certainly wasn’t having a heart attack. But if it hadn’t looked that way, I never would have been sent to hospital.”
Clarkson also described his vacation in the Indian Ocean, during which he started noticing his condition deteriorate. He said one had to stop and make sure limbs were working while attempting to stand up. Not even swimming was without a race; he would not go down a flight of stairs alone. “These issues all arrived in one day, so the rest of my holiday was quite relaxing because all I did was sit in an armchair drinking wine and eating cheese,” Clarkson joked.
However, once back home again, he deteriorated in condition. He woke up one Wednesday morning feeling especially terrible-one-sided clamminess and chest tightness similar to what had started with him previously-but he hardly felt like doing anything about it. It was only when the pins and needles developed in his left arm that he started taking things seriously.
He was immediately taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where he was put through all sorts of tests, like ECG, blood tests, and X-rays. The diagnosis finally said that although it was not a heart attack, but one of his arteries was completely blocked and the other one had serious narrowing. As this was the condition, doctors thought they would make stent for him to normalize the flow of blood.
Clarkson recalled the turn of events after the procedure, adding that the next morning he went home and here he was two hours later, writing this and sort of thinking, ‘Crikey that was close’. He further singled out John Radcliffe Hospital staff and thanked them for their efforts in saving him, adding that it is the equipment they have and the people that work here which make them heal people. Clarkson, in typical fashion, added some humor to it with a talk about musing, “Now, thanks to all those tremendous people at the John Radcliffe in Oxford and all of their extraordinary machines, here I am wondering what water tastes like and if it’s possible to make celery interesting.”
This is not the first health scare for Clarkson. In the past, he had come forth to disclose that he was compelled to quit smoking after catching pneumonia while on holiday in Spain. At the time, his health had deteriorated to the extent that he was required to bring about drastic lifestyle changes. Pneumonia with the recent heart procedure has been this wake-up call for the loudmouthed TV host long known for his fondness for cigars and anything less than health-giving habits.
The supporters of Clarkson’s work following his years as a host on the programme Top Gear to his more recent projects have been drawn into the genuine concern with his latest frankness about health issues. It was with his latest resignation from the show The Grand Tour with fellow presenters Richard Hammond and James May that brought to an end fans’ viewing enjoyment of the chemistry among these three chaps.
With all these health setbacks, Clarkson remains his usual witty and irreverent self even in his recovery. His fans would more than likely be relieved to hear that he is now on the mend and back in his routine although this time with adjustments. His most recent turn in health reminds him to pay attention to his body and seek medical help if something is not quite right. Clarkston himself seems to have learned this lesson, confessing that “perhaps I might not have gone in” had the symptoms not mimicked a heart attack.
For now, it looks like Clarkson is getting a good ride out of this, but thankful for his care and with wits and humour in hand. Fans will be waiting to see what he has in store for the future, but many of those fans will probably hope that he takes better care of his health going forward from now.
