What To Know
- Prue Leith revealed she was recently hospitalized after a severe migraine attack.
- Leith explained that her husband and doctors feared her symptoms were signs of a stroke.
- Leith announced her exit from The Great British Baking Show earlier this year.
Prue Leith is opening up about a recent health scare that left her in the hospital.
In a column for the September issue of The Oldie magazine, the former Great British Baking Show judge revealed she experienced a “migraine attack” during a stay in Yorkshire, England.
“It followed a familiar path. First I can see only half of whatever I’m looking at. This is speedily followed by a bright circle of flickering, coloured lights in the upper right field of vision. If I don’t swiftly swallow one of my migraine ‘bombs’ (three pills: paracetamol, ibuprofen and sumatriptan), a crashing headache will follow,” she explained. “But I’m an old hand – I had my first migraine attack at nine – and I carry bombs in my handbag, my husband John [Playfair]’s shoulder bag and my washbag.”
Leith said she “very rarely” experiences migraine symptoms that affect her speech. “This time, my incomprehensible jumble of disconnected words convinced John I was having a stroke,” she revealed. “I tried to tell him it was just a migraine, but I couldn’t string two words together.”
Despite not showing any signs of having a stroke, such as arm weakness or face drooping, a doctor ordered an ambulance to take her to the hospital. “The ambulance man asked me the same questions, as did a nurse on arrival at A&E, and so, after a six-hour wait, did the doctor,” Leith detailed. “In spite of my assuring him (I’d recovered coherent speech by then) that it was a migraine, he decided on a CT scan. Two hours later, I had one, waited another hour for the results, and was released at 2am.”
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Leith said she wanted to share her story to highlight healthcare workers in the U.K. “We are constantly told what a parlous state the NHS is in, and I am sure it is. But it doesn’t feel like a business on the skids,” she wrote. “In most near-bankrupt corporations, with too few staff, and a barrage of constant criticism, you would expect to find demoralised [sic], uncooperative – even rude – employees and uncared-for buildings and kit.”
Leith said the NHS personnel she encountered during her hospital visit were “all cheerful, sympathetic, polite, helpful and professional,” adding, “You may have to wait forever. But when it is your turn, you are treated as if you were the only patient in A&E, with concern and patience.”
Leith said one of the doctors had her undergo a brain scan, as people around her age (86) can have “mini-strokes.” She also praised a nursing assistant for “foraging for a sandwich” for her after she got hungry during her hours-long stay.
“I wonder what my 10 hours in A&E cost the nation? I knew all along that all I had was a migraine. But since the speech problem is a classic symptom of a stroke, and my extreme old age being a time when mini-strokes are common, everyone was determined to be safe not sorry,” she concluded. “No wonder the nation is devoted to the NHS.”
Leith’s health update comes several months after she announced her exit from The Great British Baking Show (a.k.a. The Great British Baking Show) after nine years on the beloved baking competition series. Nigella Lawson will take her place as Paul Hollywood‘s co-judge.
“Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life for the last nine years, I have genuinely loved it and I’m sure I’ll miss working with my fellow judge Paul, Alison [Hammond] and Noel [Fielding] and the teams at Love Productions and Channel 4,” Leith said in a January statement. “But now feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86 for goodness sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do, not least spend summers enjoying my garden. Whoever joins the team, I’m sure they’ll love it as much as I have. I feel very lucky to have been part of it.”
The Great British Baking Show, Streaming Now, Netflix