Former Loose Women star Andrea McLean has shared her harrowing experience of being just a day away from death after suffering from pneumonia and sepsis. The 55-year-old TV personality revealed that she's been given a second shot at life, candidly expressing that if she hadn't reached the hospital in time, she might not be here today.

The mother-of-two feels her brush with death last Christmas has prompted her to "re-evaluate my entire life". Opening up about the seriousness of her condition, she disclosed: "I didn't realise how severe my illness was at the time. But the doctors had told my husband, Nick, that had I not got to hospital when I did, had we waited another 24 hours to call for help, I may not be here now." The ordeal unfolded the day after Boxing Day, following a persistent flu that had "just not gone away".

Andrea looked back on the moment saying, "I got up to go to the bathroom and just fell to the floor. By the time the paramedics arrived they said my blood pressure was so low they had to stabilise me before moving me."

Complications arose as "Our bedroom is in the loft and they couldn't get the stretcher around the tight bend, but eventually I managed to slide down the stairs, and was rushed to hospital. What happened over the next few weeks changed my life forever", reports the Mirror.

The Scottish journalist also mentioned feeling under the weather in the 18 months before the incident.

She shared: "I've had Covid three times and suffered long Covid which left me perpetually exhausted and with an underlying weakness so I seemed to pick every little bug up. I haven't felt quite right for a very long time, so when my husband and daughter contracted that nasty flu going around in December, I of course caught it too.

"But it lingered with me. I just couldn't shift it, and it all came to a head the morning I fell to the floor. My blood pressure was 60/40 it is still very low now and I think my body just gave up."

She recalls being in and out of hospital throughout January, describing the period as a "blur".

Andrea continued: "It was only a few weeks after I got home that I realised the magnitude of what had happened that if I hadn't gone into hospital that day, I may not be here now."

Earlier this month, she experienced another scare, collapsing after rising from bed 'too fast'. Andrea notes: "I am still not back to full strength, and my blood pressure is still very low. I recently had another fall again the result of getting up too quickly. Unfortunately, this time I fell flat on my face and ended up sporting a bruiser of a black eye."

Andrea believes the ordeal has changed her perspective on life. She added: "There are rarely second chances in this life, so as I began to regain my strength I knew I had to seize the day and focus on what I really want to do."

"I very nearly died," Andrea confessed, acknowledging that she needs to pay more attention to her body. "That scary, horrible moment was a turning point, it has led to now and I am feeling really positive about where I am going.