Richard Bacon says he had PTSD revisiting hospital

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Richard BaconImage source, Getty Images

Richard Bacon has revealed he experienced PTSD when he revisited the hospital where he almost died.

The presenter had to be put in a medical coma in Lewisham Hospital, after being taken ill on a flight to the UK in July.

The 42-year-old revisited the hospital for an immigration documentary for ITV.

"I was standing on the ward looking at the equipment I was hooked up to, with wires coming out of everywhere. I felt PTSD on the ward that day, for sure."

He returned to find out what role migration played in his care but told The Sun, external when the cameras stopped rolling he felt overwhelmed.

"Memories were coming back to me of bleak moments and frightening moments, like when I came out of the coma and I was hallucinating and thoughts about what my wife, Rebecca, would have done if I died," Bacon said, in quotes confirmed by his agent to the BBC.

Bacon, who lives in Los Angeles, was taken ill on a flight from the US to the UK with suspected pneumonia.

After his condition worsened he was put into a coma to allow his body to fight the infection.

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He said he chatted to the staff about his six days in a coma in the hospital.

"They told me that they expected me to die, and my wife was expecting the call to come in to tell her - hearing a nurse actually say that to me was very emotional.

"I started to feel overwhelmed, claustrophobic and have a little bit of PTSD and I said: 'I have to stand outside.'"

But he said he will go back again to the hospital because he is going to be doing some fundraising for them.

His Tonight report Immigration: Who Do We Let In? is on ITV on Thursday at 20:00 GMT.

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