Richs' Trauma Richard Bacon Suffered Ptsd After Re-Visiting The Intensive Care Unit Where He Nearly Died thesun.co.uk

Married father-of-two Richard, 42, was making a documentary about immigration and Brexit, Immigration: Who Do We Let In? which airs tonight on ITV at 8pm.

After filming interviews with staff, some of whom were immigrants, dark memories of his near-death experience earlier this year came flooding back.

The former Blue Peter presenter said: “When the cameras were turned off 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.

“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.
Richard said filming the show triggered PTSD from when he was in hospital battling the infection
“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 I’ll still go back again because I’m going to do some fundraising for them.”

Richard, who now lives and works as a presenter in the US, spent nine nights in a coma as doctors fought to save his life in July.
He returned to Lewisham Hospital as he made the immigration documentary and found two of the team who saved his life came from Italy and Portugal.

But Richard also discovered that despite millions of Britons voting to leave the European Union, most people accepted immigration was an essential part of modern Britain.

He added: “What I found when I spoke to people was that most people aren’t racist and they understand that we need immigration.

“But there was no way during the run up to the European Referendum vote to have a calm, rational, detailed discussion about it within the country.”