Dame Prue Leith has reassured fans she is "very much alive and kicking" after being rushed to hospital in Yorkshire over stroke fears. The 86-year-old former Great British Bake Off judge suffered a migraine that left her struggling to speak while on holiday with her husband, John Playfair.
Writing in her column Prue's News in the September issue of The Oldie magazine, Dame Prue described how the migraine followed a familiar path: first she could only see half of whatever she was looking at, then a bright circle of flickering coloured lights appeared in her upper right field of vision. She explained that if she does not swiftly swallow one of her migraine 'bombs' – three pills: paracetamol, ibuprofen and sumatriptan – a crashing headache follows.
Hospital dash and CT scan
This time, however, her "incomprehensible jumble of disconnected words" convinced her husband she was having a stroke. She tried to tell him it was just a migraine, but could not string two words together. He rang their doctor, who asked if she could raise her arms, make a fist, or if anything hurt, and whether the side of her face was drooping. Despite her answers, the doctor ordered an ambulance to take her to Harrogate Hospital.
After being looked at by a paramedic and a nurse, Dame Prue underwent a CT scan before eventually being able to leave the hospital after 10 hours. She praised the NHS workers who helped her, writing: "You may have to wait for ever. But when it is your turn, you are treated as if you were the only patient in A&E, with concern and patience."
Reassurance to fans
With fans left worried by the update, Dame Prue took to Instagram on Thursday (August 13) to provide an update. She shared a picture of herself eating a dessert on her Insta story, writing over the snap: "For those that have messaged me, I wrote a piece of @theoldiemagazine about my trip to hospital a couple of months ago. I was fine shortly after and I am very much alive and kicking now."
Dame Prue joined Bake Off in 2017, replacing Mary Berry as co-judge alongside Paul Hollywood when the series moved from the BBC to Channel 4. She announced her departure from the show after nine years, with Nigella Lawson taking on her role. Shortly after her exit, she told The Telegraph she decided to leave as she "didn't want to overstay her welcome". She said: "I've never wanted to overstay my welcome in anything. Just like you don't want to stay too long at a dinner party, I think it's important to leave while you're happy and enjoying it and people aren't fed up with you."
Teasing what she'd like to do next, she noted: "If I do it'll be a travel programme, because my husband likes things involving people going to extraordinary places."
