Loose women star Andrea McLean was just "hours" away from death but recovery gives "second chance" at life

TV presenter Andrea McLean has said she was just "hours" away from death after mistaking her illness for flu. The star of daytime chat show, Loose Women, revealed she hadn't realised just how "severe" things had become earlier this year.

The 55-year-old was actually suffering from pneumonia and sepsis and was rushed to hospital. She admitted that had her husband not raised the alarm when he did, she may not have lived to tell the tale.

She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I didn’t realise how severe my illness was at the time. But the doctors had told my husband, Nick, that had I not got to hospital when I did, had we waited another 24 hours to call for help, I may not be here now.

“I got up to go to the bathroom and just fell to the floor. By the time the paramedics arrived they said my blood pressure was so low they had to stabilise me before moving me."

Our bedroom is in the loft and they couldn’t get the stretcher around the tight bend, but eventually I managed to slide down the stairs, and was rushed to hospital. What happened over the next few weeks changed my life forever."

The star - who married Nick Feeney in 2017 and has Finlay, 22, with first husband Nick Green and 17-year-old Amy-Jane with second husband Steve Toms - added that everything just "came to a head" when she collapsed and while she is not entirely out of the woods yet, she does feel "positive" about things going forward.

She said: "I’ve had Covid three times and suffered long COVID which left me perpetually exhausted and with an underlying weakness so I seemed to pick every little bug up. I haven’t felt quite right for a very long time, so when my husband and daughter contracted that nasty flu going around in December, I of course caught it too.

"But it lingered with me. I just couldn’t shift it, and it all came to a head the morning I fell to the floor. My blood pressure was 60/40 – it is still very low now – and I think my body just gave up. It was only a few weeks after I got home that I realised the magnitude of what had happened – that if I hadn’t gone into hospital that day, I may not be here now.

"There are rarely second chances in this life, so as I began to regain my strength I knew I had to seize the day and focus on what I really want to do. I very nearly died. That scary, horrible moment was a turning point, it has led to now and I am feeling really positive about where I am going."