Dan Walker's cancer scare that saw head double in size and body engorge
Dan Walker has candidly opened up about a terrifying hospital dash after discovering a 'strange' lump in his stomach.
The Channel 5 presenter, 46, was in Poland for the European football championships in 2012 when the frightening health scare occurred – which saw his body swell so severely he was unable to wear clothes as doctors feared he had cancer in his kidney. Former Strictly Come Dancing star Dan said he noticed the lump and a change in breathing, which sparked him to visit a medical centre.
Before he knew it, the star was being dashed to accident and emergency in Poland with a colleague, Richard Hughes, by his side. Once at the hospital, he underwent investigations and was told he had shadows in his kidney, which lead to doctors suspecting he had cancer.
Dan was left fearing he would die and the traumatic health scare didn't stop there as at one point his head doubled in size and his body became so swollen he couldn't fit his clothes on. Dan revealed on the podcast White Wine Question Time: "I was in Poland a few years ago covering the European Championships and I had a slightly strange lump in my stomach.
"My breathing was changing a little bit and I went to the medical centre in the broadcast centre there, and within two and a half minutes I was in the back of an ambulance on my way to a Polish A&E.
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Dan Walker was covering a football championship in Poland when his health took a turn for the worst (BBC/Pete Dadds)"And a guy called Richard Hughes, who is the editor of Match of the Day now, and a guy I'd worked with for many years, he dropped everything and came with me.
"You know times in life when you think sometimes you need someone to hold your hand.
"It did get a bit scary that night - about two o'clock in the morning a Polish consultant came in and told me that I had cancer because they'd seen some shadows on my kidney. He used the word tumour."
Dan was accompanied by a translator and who told the TV star: "He [the doctor] thinks you've got cancer in your kidney." He then recalled responding with: "Ok, let's process this, what do I do about that, do I ring my family, do I ring my wife?"
He continued: "And I just talked to Richard about it and he was brilliant and was really calm. He's very wise and daft and lovely and he was brilliant that night." The TV star then requested for the head consultant to see the scan before breaking the news to his family. The consultant then confirmed it wasn't a tumour.
The journalist explained: "There were a series of black shadows on my kidneys. Because they went down to about 30 per cent functionality, so I had this weird sort of virus that had really affected them.
"It's such a strange night because they then came in and they pumped eight litres of saline fluid into my body to try and get my kidney to start again," he recalled. "The next day they let me go home, they gave me drugs to line my stomach and these really heavy drugs to try and get the kidneys started again.
"The next day I woke up and I went to the bathroom mirror – my face, my head was about twice the size that it is at the moment.
"Every part of my body was swollen and I couldn't even get my boxer shorts on. I was walking around naked, I couldn't get my pants on because my body was so bloated with this water that wasn't being processed.
"I was like the shape of Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters." After around 48 hours, Dan's kidneys began to function again and the swelling reduced.
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