Former Newcastle United star Stuart Pearce has had an emotional reunion with a cabin crew member who played a pivotal role in saving his life after he became unwell on a flight returning from Las Vegas. Pearce, a fervent supporter of Warrington Wolves, was in the States to witness the Super League showdown between Wigan Warriors and his beloved team.
During the journey, Pearce suffered a medical crisis, prompting an urgent diversion of the aircraft to Canada where he could be rushed to a hospital. It was there that doctors performed a procedure to restart his heart as a means to reduce his elevated heart rate.
Speaking candidly about the ordeal on This Morning, joined by his spouse Carol, Pearce recounted: "At the airport my chest felt tight, a little bit heavy. I thought it might be indigestion or something of that nature, I got on the plane and it felt as though someone was sort of sat on my chest."
He continued, revealing a miscommunication with his wife: "So after a couple of hours, I tried to sleep it off to be honest, and I should have picked my wording slightly better, I said to Carol, I said, 'I don't think I'm going to make Heathrow' [but] I meant without telling the air crew!"
Pearce, who played 37 times for Newcastle in the latter stages of his career, including the 1998 FA Cup Final and in the Champions League, is an England icon who won 78 caps for his country. He starred for Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Manchester City as a player before having a spell in management, including as the Three Lions U21 coach.
Describing the severity of his condition, Pearce added: "My resting heart rate was 155 upwards... It was as though, when you did breathe in, it wasn't sufficient for the demand," reports the Mirror.
Carol then expressed her alarm at her husband's admission of pain: "For him to say he's in pain, that immediately made my blood run cold, because you think, 'Okay, this is, this is serious'. Stuart doesn't do being ill, he doesn't do making a fuss.
"He played with a broken leg! So, I knew it was serious when he said to me, 'I'm not going to make Heathrow'."
Pearce also expressed his gratitude towards the cabin crew for their handling of the situation and Zoe Anderson, who was present during his medical emergency, made an unexpected appearance. "They were magnificent on Virgin," Pearce remarked.
"I've got to say, one of the stewardesses came and sat next to me and went through the procedure they've been trained [for]. We travel a lot, so going forward, it really puts my mind at ease. If you are travelling, you're in really good hands, even if you're up in the air."
Zoe chimed in: "[Stuart] said your pain was about eight out of ten, which started to raise some alarm bells so we needed to act on that. We had Stuart hooked up to an ECG monitor... So we were able to send that straight down to the doctor that I was speaking to.
"We had all of that information to relay back and forth, we did a few different readings and when they said that all of them were abnormal, we made the decision that we didn't want to be half way across the Atlantic [Ocean]."
Pearce then extended his sincere thanks to Zoe and the entire crew, saying: "The professionalism that you showed on the day was brilliant. I was reasonably calm I'm sure but if you've got passengers that are very nervous, and this sort of thing happens, that level of composure and the backup of the training as well..
"You said, 'No it's ok'. You fully assured me, 'We've been trained at this, it's not a problem'. Credit to [them.]".
