Former England international Stuart Pearce has revealed that he is ‘feeling good’ after suffering a health scare last month. The 62-year-old was taken unwell during a flight home from Las Vegas after travelling to watch Warrington Wolves in the Super League.
The Nottingham Forest legend complained of chest pains whilst travelling home, and it has now emerged that he had to have his heart ‘restarted’ before spending five days under close observation at the hospital.
Speaking about the near-death scare to The Times, Pearce revealed that his resting heart rate rose to above 155 beats per second, saying: “My heart was racing a little bit. The medical staff on the plane were magnificent and they made the decision after three hours to drop me off in St John’s in Newfoundland.
“The hospital staff there basically stopped my heart and restarted it again to put it back into a normal rhythm. I had five days there and another five days in a hotel waiting for the medical care to get organised, so an extra ten day’s holiday, basically. They think it was caused by a virus.”
Pearce’s flight home was quickly diverted to Canada so that the ex-Manchester City defender could be treated as soon as possible.
The pundit prides himself on leading a healthy lifestyle and thus such a dramatic scare came out of the blue. He explained: “When I was filling in the medical form, I even thought I was lying. I’ll obviously go through any checks and stuff going forwards, but I’m feeling good. I’m fine.
“I’m a little bit matter-of-fact as a person. I’ve got no family history of that type of thing, my lifestyle is pretty good, so it’s probably been more of a concern to those around me. The support has been very humbling.”
Pearce has remarkably already returned to commentary duty just under three weeks since the incident, taking to the mic to commentate on England’s World Cup qualifier victory over Albania earlier this week.
Harry Kane and Myles Lewis-Skelly were both on the scoresheet for the Three Lions as Thomas Tuchel secured his first victory since succeeding Gareth Southgate in the Wembley Stadium dugout.
