An adopted man has undergone a life-saving operation after his parents tracked him down on a TV programme to warn him of an inherited heart condition.
Simon Day, 45, of Torquay, Devon, found out about the risk to his life after being reunited with his parents on Davina McCall’s ITV show Long Lost Families.
The condition had killed four relatives – and his father James McDonnell, 65, who had recently survived a heart attack, pressed Mr Day to see a specialist.
Marion Williams (left) and James McDonnell (right), 65, were reunited with their son Simon Day (centre), 45, of Torquay, Devon, on ITV’s Long Lost Family: What Happened Next
A doctor found web designer Mr Day had four blocked arteries and required an immediate quadruple bypass, reported The Sun.
Mr Day, who was reunited with his relatives last July, said: ‘There’s no question that by finding me and warning me, my dad saved my life.’
Mr Day, who was given up for adoption as a baby by Mr McDonnell and his mother Marion Williams, has now made a full recovery.
He added: ‘James told me “we had to find you, because you’re a ticking timebomb”. He was right. I was at death’s door and didn’t even know it.’
ITV’s Long Lost Family: What Happened Next is hosted by Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall
Mr McDonnell, who is from South London, said: ‘When he told me about his condition I went cold with fear. I realised I had to get him to hospital.
There’s no question that by finding me and warning me, my dad saved my life
‘I’d just found my son and months later I could lose him again.’
The new series of Long Lost Family: What Happened Next, which is hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, begins on ITV at 9pm tonight.
The programme is said to have reunited more than 200 people with their long lost relatives over the past seven years.