Tony Blackburn shares doctor's grim warning over near-deadly sepsis battle

02 January 2024 , 12:42

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Radio legend Tony Blackburn ended a tough year on a high after being made an OBE (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Tony Blackburn was issued a stark warning by one of the hospital doctors who treated him for sepsis and pneumonia last year.

Over the summer, the 80-year-old radio veteran confirmed he’d been diagnosed with sepsis after being rushed to hospital months earlier. He’d collapsed at his home in April and what he thought was a chest infection turned out to be pneumonia and blood poisoning.

Reflecting on his poor health on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, the BBC Radio 2 star told Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley that he’s ‘lucky to be alive’ and he was warned by a doctor to expect a long stay in hospital. Tony shared this week: “My blood was infected and it got into my heart so I'm quite lucky to still be around. I don't remember a lot but I was rushed to A&E and I had this thing up my nose."

BBC Radio 2 favourite Tony Blackburn was forced to take a break from work earlier this year (Dave Hogan/Hogan Media/REX/Shutterstock)

The veteran broadcaster was given a severe warning by doctors amid his health scare (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

He went on: “When I got to hospital the guy was like, ‘I think you'll be here for a while’ and I said, ‘I can't I have a show in two days’ and he said he didn't think I'd make it to the shows. I got sepsis from having a tooth extracted, so you have to be really careful!” According to the NHS , sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body's own tissues and organs.

Sepsis kills around 50,000 people in the UK each year, with it vital that treatment is given promptly – while the condition can be difficult to spot. Tony’s life-threatening illnesses forced him to pull out of his popular Sound of the 60s Tour and Radio 2 show earlier this year.

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When he was first taken into hospital, Tony said he had a chest infection, however, speaking two months after his May discharge from hospital, Tony revealed just how serious the situation actually was. Speaking on BBC Scotland in August he said: "I was doing three a week at one time forgetting that I'm now a little bit older, so I ended up in hospital for two months with sepsis and pneumonia and blood poisoning."

Tony added: "And I didn't realise how unwell I was until one day in the hospital my whole family were gathered around the bed. And I thought 'this isn't good'. A couple of weeks ago I went to see my specialist and he said 'you are cured', so that was a nice thing to hear." Following his hospital stay, Tony returned to work but has since been taking it easy, limiting himself to just one show each week.

Aisha Nozari