Andrea McLean suffered another health scare this week as she fainted on her bathroom floor. The Loose Women panellist, 55, face-planted after getting out of bed ‘too fast’, just months after her nightmarish pneumonia diagnosis.
Despite the shock, she was fortunate to escape serious injury, although she did sustain a bruised black eye. Taking to Instagram, she confessed she hasn’t quite recovered from her previous health battle either, having lost ‘80% capacity’ in one lung last December.
“Black Eyed Peas… Both are relevant today,” she said. “Yup. I’ve got a shiner. I wish that I had a super exciting story as to why. I didn’t leap from a moving car or parachute off a building.
“Nope. I just woke up yesterday morning and got out of bed too fast, I guess before I’d properly woken up. By the time I’d walked the few steps to the bathroom I thought: ‘I don’t feel too good..’ and fainted. I landed on my face. Literally, face-planted onto the bathroom floor.
“I have been checked out at A&E and thankfully my cheekbone isn’t broken, and I won’t lose any teeth. I was really lucky. Lesson learned. Take a moment. I’m not quite ‘better’ yet.”
Before this incident, Andrea was battling severe flu-like symptoms, which led to her collapse in December. Hospital tests later revealed she had acute kidney injury, sepsis, and severe pneumonia, resulting in a significant loss of lung capacity.
She described the multi-day stint in hospital as a ‘sensory overload’, with relentless bright lights, distressing yells, and the omnipresent ‘smell of poo’.
Sharing her ordeal on Substack, Andrea said last month: “Note to self; being a big brave girl and not saying how much pain you’re in when you’ve lost 80% capacity in one of your lungs to severe pneumonia and infection is not a smart move. Get on the strong stuff ASAP.”
Now back at home, Andrea hasn’t fully recovered, evidenced by another A&E visit this past week. However, these health hurdles haven’t dampened her spirit or determination to face new projects, as she joked on Instagram: “To the few hundred women I’m speaking on stage in front of tomorrow in Hull, excuse the shiner.
“Oh. And Black Eyed Peas because I have a black eye and I spent most of yesterday with a bag of peas on my face.”