Tony Blackburn has revealed he was battling life-threatening sepsis, pneumonia and blood poisoning during his hospital stay earlier this year.
The 80-year-old DJ was forced to pull out of his popular Sounds of the 60s Tour and Radio 2 show citing a chest infection at the time.
However, the broadcaster has now explained how serious his admission was, admitting he was battling sepsis, pneumonia and blood poisoning and spent two months in total in hospital.
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused when the body releases chemicals to fight an infection. It can also lead to confusion and slurred speech, while pneumonia is an infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs.
The radio star went on to explain that he had just recovered from the conditions when he was discharged from London’s Wellington Hospital in May.
Blackburn added that following his hospital stint he received daily injections in his fight to get back to full health.
Reflecting on his health scare, the I’m A Celebrity alum admitted he overdid it touring his music and chat show, Sounds of the 60s Live, and didn’t realise how unwell he was until his entire family were gathered at his hospital beside.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, he shared: “I was doing three a week at one time forgetting that I’m now a little bit older, so I ended up in hospital for two months with sepsis and pneumonia and blood poisoning.
“And I didn’t realise how unwell I was until one day in the hospital my whole family were gathered around the bed. And I thought, ‘this isn’t good’.
“A couple of weeks ago I went to see my specialist and he said, ‘you are cured’, so that was a nice thing to hear.”
After a three-month break, he has now returned to his BBC Radio 2 show as well as his tour but is only going to do one show each week.
He said: “I haven’t been doing the [tour] show for about three months because I was told to rest a little bit. Now I’m back in form and we’re selling out.
“Instead of doing three a week I’m just going to do one a week.”
Following his hospitals stay, he previously thanked the doctors and nurses who looked after him on social media platform X, formely known as Twitter.
