FORMULA ONE icon Nigel Mansell has revealed that doctors gave him just one hour to live after leaving a round of golf.
The ex-F1 world champion left the fairway, strictly only after he’d finished his round, to get some medicine from the hospital, before being told he had one hour to live.
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Formula One icon Nigel Mansell revealed he was given an hour to live Credit: Getty
His appendix had burst Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd
The 72-year-old almost collapsed 18 months ago while playing golf, and after finishing his round he casually said, “I need to go and see my mate in the hospital and get some medicine.”
When they got there the doctor looked Mansell up and down and told him he had “maybe an hour to live.”
According to the Telegraph, the doctor then said: “Your appendix has burst, and your gall bladder’s gone. It’s out of life. Finished. You’re in trouble. One hour, you’ll be dead.”
And speaking to the Telegraph, Mansell said: “They had to shave me head to toe, which I wasn’t too impressed with.
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“But he saved my life. What people don’t realise, I certainly didn’t, is that a burst appendix is really serious.
“You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and no matter if you’re Superman, you’ll die.”
It wasn’t the first time Mansell has nearly died on the golf course either, a perforated bowel had him fighting for his life before the appendix incident.
Mansell jokingly added: “I’ve lived a very different life to most people and I’ve smashed myself up a little bit.
“So there’s just a little bit of mechanic-ing we have to do occasionally to catch up.”
Mansell maintains a relaxed attitude when it comes to reflecting on his injuries, but the long list includes a broken neck, multiple broken vertebrae, first and second-degree burns, spinal concussion, a broken foot and a bleed on his brain.
