TV personality Miranda Hart feared for her life after collapsing on the floor of her home. The comedian is amongst 21 celebrities vying to win the second series of the BBC programme Celebrity Traitors, which kicks off tonight (Thursday, October 1).
Years of undiagnosed illness
Miranda has made relatively few television appearances over the past decade, having spent much of that time battling a debilitating illness that left her largely bed-bound. The 53-year-old endured crippling fatigue for years while being repeatedly dismissed by a string of doctors.
She was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2020, following years of severe chronic symptoms that had initially been misdiagnosed as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, more commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Collapse at home
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection passed on to humans via the bite of an infected tick. Miranda believes she contracted the infection while living in Virginia, USA, at around the age of 14 or 15, a region well known as a hotspot for the ticks that carry the disease.
She suspects the infection took hold more than three decades before she received her eventual diagnosis. In her autobiography, I Haven't Been Entirely Honest With You, Miranda candidly recounted an incident in which she collapsed on her sitting room floor, fearing she was dying with only her dog for company, reports the Express.
She said: "I was alone and had just collapsed on my sitting room floor, the worried licks of my dog, Peggy, trying to help me. I couldn't really move, such was the degree of exhaustion.
"I remember saying, 'it's very rare to die of exhaustion. I'm not OK, but it's OK,' trying to reassure Peggy as much as myself. I felt very weak. Like I didn't exist. Like I was fading away."
Decades of misdiagnosis
This marked the first time Miranda collapsed, occurring before she ultimately received a diagnosis of Lyme disease. The comedian disclosed she felt sad rather than frightened as she believed she had "nothing left to give".
Due to Miranda's condition remaining undiagnosed for decades, the bacteria remained dormant or periodically reactivated. This resulted in unexplained chronic fatigue, joint weakness and neurological problems that medical professionals consistently misdiagnosed or dismissed.
She continued: "The emotion from years of wondering how I would make it through the day, or never really knowing why I was so exhausted, enveloped me like a heavy cloak. I just lay there. And waited.
"Either my body would start to come around or I would fade away. There was nothing I could do about it. I sank further into the rug and let out a long sigh."
The comedian rose to prominence with her semi-autobiographical sitcom, Miranda, which debuted on the BBC in 2009 and secured numerous accolades.
Celebrity Traitors begins tonight from 8pm to 9.15pm on BBC One.
