Martin Roberts said he has an ‘irrational fear’ that he is going to die at any moment after he was rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery last year.
The Homes Under The Hammer host, 59, told The Mirror that he has struggled to mentally come to terms with his health scare in April last year, revealing he can’t help but consider the ‘what ifs’.
He said: ‘The mental recovery is that fear that that happened, will it happen again? Suddenly, it’s a Monday morning, am I going to die?’
‘That slightly irrational fear, but when you’ve been through what I went through it’s a hard thing to move on from.’
The presenter underwent the life-saving operation last year after mistaking chest pains for long Covid.
Homes Under The Hammer presenter, Martin Roberts, said he has an ‘irrational fear’ that he is going to die at any moment after he was rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery last year
![He underwent the life-saving operation when he was suffering from pericardial effusion, which is a build-up of fluid in the structure around the heart](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/05/21/20/71241933-12108605-image-a-7_1684695896717.jpg)
He underwent the life-saving operation when he was suffering from pericardial effusion, which is a build-up of fluid in the structure around the heart
But Martin learned he was suffering from pericardial effusion, which is a build-up of fluid in the structure around the heart, and was rushed into surgery that saved his life.
Speaking to The Sun’s TV Mag, Martin said: ‘A year ago, I had a problem with my heart that hadn’t been noticed.
‘The sack around my heart had expanded and was putting pressure on the heart. I had less than a few hours to live.
‘Had I not been in the right place… Three weeks earlier I was on the road in a transit van and if it had happened then, I would be dead.’
Martin added that his health scare has left him ‘willing to try anything’ so he signed up for the E4 series The Big Celebrity Detox, which sees stars trying therapies including drinking their own urine.
In the debut episode, Martin admitted to feeling ‘rocked to his core’ by his health scare.
Introducing himself on the gruelling show, which came with a warning for viewers not to try the tasks at home, Martin reflected on his ‘frighteningly horrible year’.
He said: ‘This year has been a frighteningly horrible year for me. A few months ago, I had a near-death experience and that’s rocked me to my core.
![Martin said that his near-death experience left him willing to try anything so he signed up for the E4 series The Big Celebrity Detox](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/05/21/20/71241959-12108605-image-a-9_1684696199519.jpg)
Martin said that his near-death experience left him willing to try anything so he signed up for the E4 series The Big Celebrity Detox
![He had previously said he feared he was suffering a heart attack before being taken to hospital by his wife Kirsty](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/05/21/20/56956345-12108605-Horror_Martin_had_previously_said_he_started_to_feel_unwell_over-m-14_1684696518080.jpg)
He had previously said he feared he was suffering a heart attack before being taken to hospital by his wife Kirsty
![Appearing on This Morning with Kirsty, he said: 'The heart would have been strangled by itself'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/05/21/20/57678195-12108605-Supportive_He_added_that_the_dramatic_health_scare_has_pushed_hi-a-15_1684696612156.jpg)
Appearing on This Morning with Kirsty, he said: ‘The heart would have been strangled by itself’
‘I actually want this to make a difference, do I think it will happen? The jury’s out.’
Throughout the first episode, Martin took part in an array of extreme tasks, including drinking his own urine and digesting seeds which cause vomiting.
However, the property expert remained unconvinced by the effects of the challenges and made his feelings known to spiritual expert Sah D’Simone.
When being told the first task would include drinking his own urine, Martin shared his doubts about the very unique challenge.
He said: ‘How can something your body gets rid of as a waste product be good for you?’
Despite his worries, Martin did take part in the challenge alongside his co-stars, including Kerry Katona, Megan Barton-Hanson and Princess Olga Romanoff.
Martin previously detailed his terrifying hospital ordeal on This Morning, telling Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes: ‘I’d been feeling a bit poorly, under the weather for a couple of weeks. I’ve had a few chest infections over the last few years and I’ve had asthma since childhood, so I’m used to quite a tight chest.
‘As it approached the Easter bank holiday weekend, it was starting to get really bad where I could hardly walk without struggling for breath.’
He added: ‘The confusing thing about this, it’s a bit of a red herring, is that it gets you in the breathing side of things, so you don’t think it’s something to do with your heart.
‘You think, ”It must be something to do with my chest.” Then it’s the dangerous thing of playing Google doctor.
‘It looked like it could have been the symptoms for long Covid – real lethargy, a tightness in the chest, pain in the chest, difficulty breathing, so you pause it and pause it and by the time it got to just after the bank holiday weekend, I was starting to be delirious, putting letters the wrong way round, I said to Kirsty, ”We’ve got to go to hospital.”’
His wife Kirsty added: ‘Really worrying. We’re thankful we got to to A&E when we did.’
Pericardial effusion causes excess fluid to clog up the sac surrounding the heart, known as the pericardium.
Symptoms can include shortness of breath, chest pains, discomfort when breathing, feeling light-headed or swelling in the abdomen or legs.
While the condition can be treated with medication, in severe cases doctors may perform surgery to drain the excess fluid.
Martin explained that he required surgery because the fluid build-up had placed so much strain on his heart, causing organ failure.
He told Phillip and Rochelle: ‘There’s a sack around your heart and it was filling with fluid, it’s called a pericardial effusion and that in turn is something called a tapenade, which basically means this sack is squeezing the heart it sits around, so the heart isn’t able to expand, and therefore isn’t able to pump, so it means all of your organs start failing.
‘By the time they got to me, my kidneys were at 30 per cent, my liver was at 30 per cent, my lungs weren’t getting the oxygen and at any point, I could have had a heart attack…. The heart would have been strangled by itself.’
He added, ‘We’re talking minutes stroke hours of life left here.’
Asked what went through his mind, Martin said: ‘You just put your life in the hands of professionals. I’m lying there in the specialist cardiac drain unit – there’s a special operating theatre and there’s a local anaesthetic.
‘I’m watching as they stick a tube into the side of your heart and then with a big syringe, he starts pulling this dark red/black liquid, which is almost, I call death liquid, pulls it out and squirts it into a plastic beaker, pulls another one and squirts it in and I was just watching…’
Phillip asked Kirsty whether her husband’s ordeal had sparked a reset for them, and she replied: ‘Totally. We’ve said this, haven’t we? I did send a card to Martin when he came out of hospital and I said, ”We do have to take this as a bit of a watershed moment.”’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk