Alan Brazil has revealed the operation that saved his life after returning to talkSPORT. The former Scotland international had been off air for almost four months due to a medical issue.
Brazil underwent a liver transplant in June, spending eight hours on the operating table. During the surgery, his heart briefly stopped.
Return to Breakfast Show
Returning to the Breakfast Show alongside Ally McCoist and Gabby Agbonlahor, the 67-year-old detailed his health ordeal.
He said: "I am not going to bore everyone but it is remarkable really what happened. One minute I am doing this (the show), I've finished at 9:45am, there's a car outside and I am like 'what's going on?'"
Cancer Diagnosis
He was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital, where he was operated on. Brazil added: "Straight down to Addenbrooke's Hospital and a few hours later... wallop. They open me up and stick a new liver in there. So I did have cancer in my liver and we suspected that for months to be honest, but they didn't want to go in and touch it and shake it up in case you could make it spread."
Brazil described his luck in receiving a perfect match, noting that some patients wait 18 months for a transplant. He said: "First of all they said the perfect match came in, otherwise I might still be waiting and people will know what I am talking about who might be on the list. You can wait 18 months, you can go down there, get ready to have the op and they say 'it's not quite right, go away and come back and we will phone you later, maybe in a few weeks' and it can be murder."
Heart Stopped During Surgery
He recalled: "I was so lucky, I went down there and they said 'we've got one and it looks perfect so we are going to do it now'. They inject you all over and you have to sign a few forms, you get carried in there and it's like 'goodbye everyone', that's how bad it was. I thought 'see you later'. Wife's in tears, it was horrible."
Co-host Agbonlahor noted that Brazil had dizzy spells and had to come off air previously. Brazil added: "That was the stage where I had to get it done otherwise it was 'see you later'. I didn't realise it was that extreme but it was. They told me, another couple of weeks and you were gone. I had seven or eight hours on there, the fluid build-up I had was horrendous."
He said: "They cut me open and there was a flood, it was that bad everywhere I had it. I did have a few complications, my heart stopped for 40 seconds. I said 'did you get the old jump-leads on?' He said 'no, no. It came back. We were about to take action but it came back."
Recovery
Brazil noted he is still on "massive medication" and must avoid the sun due to low resistance levels.
