Prue Leith, 86, was recently rushed to hospital after she "couldn't string two words together". The former Great British Bake Off judge detailed her private health scare in her latest Prue’s News column for the upcoming September issue of The Oldie magazine.
Prue, who has suffered with migraines since childhood, was hospitalised a few weeks ago in Yorkshire after her "migraine attack" symptoms raised concerns of a stroke. "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," the 86-year-old wrote.
"Very rarely, I get another migraine symptom when my speech, like my sight, goes bananas," Prue explained. But this time, her "incomprehensible jumble of disconnected words" convinced her husband John Playfair that she was actually having a stroke. "I tried to tell him it was just a migraine, but I couldn’t string two words together."
"He rang our doctor, who asked me, could I raise my arms? Yes. Make a fist? Yes. Did anything hurt? No. Was the side of my face drooping? No. In spite of my answers, she ordered an ambulance to take me to Harrogate Hospital," Prue recalled.
© WireImageAfter being questioned in the ambulance and on arrival in the emergency room, she saw a doctor who ordered a CT scan, "in spite of my assuring him (I’d recovered coherent speech by then) that it was a migraine," Prue remarked. The doctor explained to her that a brain scan was "just to be sure" as people of her age are prone to transient ischaemic attacks, also known as "mini-strokes".
Following a second scan two hours later, the TV star was released from hospital in the early morning. Prue praised the NHS staff for treating her with "concern and patience".
"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," Prue wrote.
Latest update
The restaurateur took to Instagram on Thursday morning to address the messages she had received after detailing her health ordeal. Prue assured she was "fine shortly after and I am very much alive and kicking now!"
© Instagram/ @prueleithThe TV star had a bright smile on her face in a photo shared to her Instagram Story. Prue wore a pair of eccentric neon green sunglasses while enjoying a bite to eat outside in the sunshine.
Prue's next chapter
Prue began the year with a big change in her career, announcing in January that she would be leaving The Great British Bake Off after nine years as a judge. Shortly afterwards, Nigella Lawson was revealed as her successor.
"I don't think they could have chosen a better person," Prue told HELLO! exclusively in April. "I don't know her well at all, but what I know of her is all good."
The TV star and former fashion designer revealed she plans to write more and to travel more with her husband John. "There are lots of the '-stans' that we haven’t been to – we've been to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, but I want to go back."
