Stuart Pearce
Stuart Pearce and his wife Carol (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Stuart Pearce, the former England and Manchester City defender, has expressed his gratitude to the crew who assisted him during a recent health scare on a flight, when he had the chance to meet one of the attendants again.
In early March, the 62-year-old experienced chest pains while on a flight from the United States, where he had been attending the Super League match between Wigan and Warrington.
The flight from Las Vegas to Heathrow was rerouted to St John's in Canada due to his condition, and he spent five days in hospital recuperating. Pearce resumed his commentary duties for the first time since the incident on March 21, providing analysis for talkSPORT's coverage of England's World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley.
Appearing on ITV's This Morning programme with his wife Carol on Monday, Pearce recounted the moments leading up to his medical emergency. "At the airport my chest felt tight, a little bit heavy," he shared.
"I thought it might be indigestion or something of that nature, I got on the plane and it felt as though someone was sort of sat on my chest. So after a couple of hours, I tried to sleep it off to be honest, and I should have picked my wording slightly better, I said to Carol, I said, 'I don't think I'm going to make Heathrow' [but] I meant without telling the air crew!
"I was sort of in and out of consciousness. I was sleeping and then waking, sleeping and waking, and then next thing we know, we're landing in Newfoundland. They think it was just a virus that affected my heart."
Carol, wife of Stuart, shared her immediate worry when he mentioned he was in pain: "For him to say he's in pain, that immediately made my blood run cold, because you think, 'OK, this is, this is serious'.
"Stuart doesn't do being ill, he doesn't do making a fuss. He played with a broken leg! So, I knew it was serious when he said to me, 'I'm not going to make Heathrow'."
In a recent programme, Pearce was back together with Virgin cabin crew manager Zoe Anderson, who was among the team assisting the ex-footballer during his ordeal, detailing how they connected him to an ECG heart monitor and communicated with a doctor on the ground to ensure his wellbeing.
Pearce himself expressed immense gratitude to the airplane crew: "I can't speak highly enough of the crew.
"Quite incredible honestly, I always felt as though, if you get ill on an airplane... worst place in the world to be ill, but it's sort of given me a new found rest assuredness if you like."
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