Sue Cleaver has opened up about almost dying when she was struck down with sepsis.
The ‘Coronation Street’ actress thought she had the flu and a bad flare up of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) when she began to feel under the weather on set, but she later went to hospital on the advice of her paramedic daughter-in-law which may well have saved her life.
She said: "My husband, who also works on ‘Corrie’, he said, ‘Something’s not right’, but I said, ‘It’s all right it’s the flu, I’m taking ibuprofen, I just want to sleep.’
"He rang our daughter-in-law who’s a paramedic and she said, ‘Get her to hospital.’
"I still felt like a fraud. I didn’t know I had sepsis until the next day in the ward."
Sue’s sepsis was caused by a severe underlying kidney infection.
She said: "The biggest lesson for me is we stride on through life, we’ve got commitments and we put up and get on with things.
"That’s a big mistake.
"You’re so aware of upsetting filming for everybody.
"All I wanted to do was sleep and if he hadn’t come home and I’d gone to sleep, what would’ve happened?"
Dr Ranj Singh said: "The outcome may have been very, very different for you."
Sue will return to the set later this month following a holiday, and admitted she is feeling like her old self again now after struggling to learn her lines because of the illness.
Speaking on ‘This Morning’, she added: "I’m not in until the end of the month, I’ve been away on a little holiday just to convalesce. I’ve been very ill.
"My short-term memory, I had to go into work for three days because it was literally about six days away from transmission.
"It took me so long to learn the lines, I’m normally so quick.
"So it’s taken a little while for everything to get back to normal.
"But I feel pretty much like my old self now."
Sue Cleaver almost died while battling sepsis
