It had been a normal Champions League broadcast till shortly earlier than 10pm, when one thing erupted inside Darrell Currie’s head.
Actual Madrid have been in Glasgow to tackle Celtic and, because the face of BT Sport’s Scottish soccer protection, he was presenting greater than three hours of reside tv alongside Michael Owen, Chris Sutton and Gordon Strachan.
The programme was operating as easily as anybody who has seen Currie in motion would anticipate. His profession was on the rise, having additionally been chosen as one of many hosts of BT Sport’s Objectives Present, their try to rival Sky Sports activities’ Soccer Saturday. Maybe his highest-profile second got here when he coaxed an on-pitch admission from Eden Hazard that he was leaving Chelsea following their Europa League triumph in 2019.
Currie’s exhaustive preparation over 25 years had helped him climb the media ladder, however no quantity of analysis may have braced him for what he felt through the closing phase of the present in September 2022.
“It felt like a bomb went off in my mind. Like one thing exploded in my head,” he tells The Athletic.
It was the beginning of a well being nightmare, one meaning he has not offered a tv programme for nearly two years. His profession and, extra importantly, his high quality of life have been wrecked by this crippling thriller sickness. He lives in continual ache and has spent tens of hundreds of kilos looking for solutions or cures, two issues that also elude him and have led him to darkish locations.
“It felt like a bomb went off in my mind.”@darrellcurrietv was presenting BT Sport’s Champions League protection when the ache first hit.
Two years on, he has barely been on TV since, is commonly in agony and has spent hundreds looking for solutions.
He tells his story to @JordanC1107
— The Athletic | Soccer (@TheAthleticFC) July 5, 2024
“It’s unusual sitting right here, telling the story of what has occurred to me,” he says. “I wasn’t positive what or when to say it, as when issues are sophisticated medically you need to inform the precise story and perhaps assist folks.
“My two youngsters, particularly my boy, have been questioning why I hadn’t stated a lot. His pals had seen me on TV and puzzled the place I had gone.
“That they had Googled my title at college as soon as after they have been doing one thing on their dad and mom and the highest search was ‘Who does Darrell Currie assist?’. Now it was ‘What occurred to Darrell Currie?’.”
“The second it occurred, I bear in mind holding onto my chair,” says Currie, casting his thoughts again to the second his life modified, as he and the pundits round him have been making an attempt to dissect Actual Madrid’s 3-0 victory at Celtic Park.
“I felt dizzy, like I used to be going to fall out of my seat and go out. I managed to complete the chat and get to the break however I got here off air feeling horrible.
“Strolling again to the TV vehicles, it felt like the bottom wasn’t there. I had no actual sense of the place I used to be.”
Currie travelled to London the following morning to current one other Champions League sport, his physique nonetheless reeling.
A late-night appointment with a personal GP recognized him with labyrinthitis — irritation of the ear.
It didn’t allay his fears, because the ache elevated over the following three weeks, coming to a head whereas presenting protection of Scotland vs Eire at Hampden Park.
“I texted the producer through the second half asking how lengthy the post-match phase was,” says Currie. “I used to be struggling to face up and each time I used to be turning my head to speak to the pundits, I felt like going to faint or fall over.
“I take loads of delight in my work so I might by no means, ever not end a programme, however that night time the producer noticed one thing was not proper with me. He got here into the stadium through the sport and stated he was taking it out of my arms: I used to be being taken off air. It was the largest weight off my shoulders.”
That occurred on September 24, 2022 — and it’s the final time Currie was capable of current reside tv.
His legs seized up utterly and he pleaded together with his mum to assist him get again to his spouse and youngsters in London that night time, as he feared he wouldn’t get out of hospital for a very long time if he was admitted.
As he was helped out of Euston prepare station the following morning with one arm draped round his mum and the opposite round his spouse, Currie knew there was one thing severely improper.
The throbbing ache was too excessive to be an ear an infection, and it was too ubiquitous to be associated to ripping a disc in his again whereas stepping out of the bathe 4 months earlier.
It made little sense for somebody with barely an oz. of fats on them, particularly one married to Jennifer, a pilates and barre teacher. He put it right down to the gruelling schedule of the earlier season — Rangers’ shock run to the Europa League closing meant further journey and left him feeling run-down.
However no quantity of rehab and physio was serving to and his ache ranges have been turning into extra continual by the day, spreading throughout his total physique. With medical doctors unable to supply an evidence and Currie now unable to work, he was compelled to take issues into his personal arms and embark on a worldwide seek for a prognosis.
Nearly two years later, now 41, he’s nonetheless caught in purgatory — however he has come again from the brink.
After a horrific few months on the finish of 2022 and into 2023, Currie may barely get away from bed.
A name with a involved physician within the U.S. led to him being referred to a specialist in Germany who believed he had the early signs of arachnoiditis, a uncommon, progressive inflammatory situation which impacts the a part of the physique that protects the nerves of the mind and the spinal wire.
Pushed by curiosity and concern, he joined on-line teams for victims and was petrified to learn the way debilitating the sickness turns into because it worsens, with some stories describing paralysis and others ranking the ache stage as being not far behind bone most cancers.
“For these few months after that prognosis, I’m undecided I needed to be alive,” says Currie.
“I might speak to my spouse typically about, ‘What’s the level in being right here?’ I couldn’t actually see the sunshine of day.
“I might by no means have dedicated suicide, as I bear in mind chatting with Kris Boyd about his charity (the previous Rangers striker’s brother took his personal life) and I understand how that may be for your loved ones, leaving them like that.”
However whereas Currie doesn’t imagine he was ever near taking his personal life, he was considering how he may restrict the trauma to his household by discussing it upfront.
“I by no means informed anybody I used to be pondering of it, however I used to be genuinely making an attempt to think about methods I may do it — even when that was overseas so it was one thing assisted,” he says. “The ache was horrific. My neck felt damaged, my again felt damaged, my complete physique felt damaged. I may barely maintain my head up. I used to be questioning every part.
“I feel I’m a very optimistic individual, in order that wasn’t me. It was like one thing taking on my physique. My spouse has been an inspiration, pushing me on daily basis. If it wasn’t for her I genuinely don’t assume I might have been capable of keep alive. Any time I used to be in mattress saying these items she would cellphone my mum, as if she was getting me into hassle. The 2 of them would speak some sense into me.
“Inside two or three months, I bought my head collectively. I’ve bought two kids — I don’t assume I’d have compromised their life or made it worse.”
Within the early months, the signs have been so extreme that Currie underwent a brutal course of steroid remedy. He was in such a morbid place that he needed to arrange his youngsters, Georgia (9) and Harrison (12), for the worst. “I bear in mind being on the kitchen desk and there have been loads of tears,” he recollects. “I informed them I used to be on this treatment and that hopefully it’s going to make me higher, however it may make me worse. They knew that, by even taking the time to speak them by this, issues have been clearly unhealthy.
“My daughter was actually unhappy they usually have been in all probability worrying I used to be going to die. I used to be worrying I used to be going to die. I didn’t inform them that, however I believed we needed to give them some info to allow them to know this was going to be a battle and a battle. I feel the steroids saved my life.”
As Currie sits and articulately narrates a timeline of advanced medical phrases, he doesn’t look sick. However because the lighting is being adjusted for the interview, it causes disequilibrium and the room begins spinning.
That is info he solely shares afterwards and that is without doubt one of the issues medical doctors have informed him he faces: he has turn into too adept at hiding his ache and making his situation invisible to the skin world when inside he’s hurting.
It’s why he carries a protracted umbrella on sunny days. In actuality, it’s a strolling stick however he refuses to let it dictate his life and hold him in mattress as he has discovered the one method to reside with it’s to maintain his physique transferring, even when each stride is punishing.
“It’s intense. I take treatment to attempt to cease a few of that nerve ache, however it’s like capturing electrical shocks going by your physique.
“It seems like my muscle tissue are so tense they will barely transfer. I’ve weak point in my legs and thighs when strolling, as in the event that they’re barely hooked up to my physique. I get ache up by my neck and it’s like I’ve bought irritation in my head.
“You’ll be able to course of ache and I’ve learn rather a lot about how to try this. You must do not forget that ache is a sign to your mind. In the event you can attempt to management these you’ll find a method to reside, however it’s there on a regular basis and the dizziness is fixed. Even sitting right here, I don’t really feel fairly steady.”
As quickly as he wakes up every day, he does neck and backbone workouts earlier than making an attempt to get away from bed as his physique feels too brittle to maneuver.
Each night time, he lies on his facet with a pillow between his legs and a warmth pack on his again, which has stripped the pores and skin off his physique and left it pink uncooked. However it’s the solely method to discover a modicum of aid.
That aid helps him fulfil the promise he made to himself a number of months after being at his lowest ebb: that he would reside as full a life as attainable.
“I used to be decided that, even when I can’t get again to the previous me, I used to be going to ensure I had a very good life for my household,” he says.
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“I put a lot effort into on daily basis, in getting the youngsters to high school and their golf equipment, that almost all nights I simply really feel completely completed. I say to my spouse it seems like I’ve run a marathon. It seems like I’ve not bought an oz. left.
“The children don’t understand it, however I’ll be watching in conjunction with the pitch or the pool and I can barely arise. You’re speaking to different dad and mom making an attempt to not point out it and you’re excusing your self so you may come out and in. It’s robust, because it takes each ounce of you to do all these issues.
“Just a few weeks in the past I had a very unhealthy spell and sooner or later I used to be out strolling and I simply couldn’t get dwelling. I used to be a mile away and I may barely take one other step. I needed to discover someplace to sit down and wait on my spouse to return and rescue me an hour and a half later.”
Slight progress has been made. He has been recognized with continual ache and nerve injury in his spinal canal, whereas he’s now working with Dr Ben Sinclair, who’s utilizing his personal experiences of lengthy Covid to assist deal with others. He believes Currie can be a sufferer.
Associates directed him to Dr Ian McGuinness, the Qatar nationwide crew physician, who has emptied his contacts e-book to assist discover the perfect medical doctors and physicians world wide.
“I’ll by no means have the ability to thank him sufficient. With out Ian’s enter I don’t assume I might have been capable of get so far as I’ve within the medical journey.”
One included endeavor a cytokine panel with an American physician, which assesses for micro-markers of irritation within the physique. The laboratory phoned urgently and informed him he ought to communicate to a physician instantly as, from the a whole lot of hundreds of panels completed since Covid, his outcomes have been within the prime 5 per cent.
Analysis has proven that in sufferers with extreme Covid, the immune system can overreact and as a substitute of serving to battle the virus, it damages the cells and tissues of the physique itself. That may be deadly.
He didn’t be a part of the dots on the time, however two weeks earlier than Currie injured his again in 2022, he examined optimistic for Covid.
As he has gone deeper into the investigation and extra assessments have been completed, the idea his sickness is said to the virus or the next three vaccines he took has grown stronger.
“After the primary vaccine I bought horrible tinnitus in my ears inside 12 hours, so it was positively a side-effect,” he says. “I went to see my GP they usually stated there weren’t any (recognized side-effects) on the time, because it was so new. The media have been among the first to get the vaccines as we have been allowed to journey and work. I questioned whether or not I ought to take one other however I did, as I needed to work.
“That is probably the beginning of the story. After the second and third vaccines I had bizarre emotions — pins and needles up my arms, throughout my face, it felt like my tongue was vibrating, my jaw was hardly transferring and I had complications. Now medical doctors say these are indicators of delicate allergic reactions.
“Did the Covid vaccines doubtlessly have an effect on my immune system and so, after I then bought Covid, may my physique not react? Was it immune failure, attacking itself? A number of medical doctors I’m seeing now really feel that’s what occurred.”
Currie has waited to discuss his struggling partly as a result of he was involved in regards to the tone of the dialog round Covid vaccines and the eye it may appeal to.
“I solely posted on social media a few occasions in regards to the ache and dizziness however there have been hundreds of individuals getting in contact with tales which sound much like me,” he provides.
The UK’s Workplace for Nationwide Statistics reported that, in March 2023, round 1.9 million folks residing in personal households within the UK have been experiencing self-reported lengthy Covid signs.
“That’s simply those who know,” he provides. “There is perhaps a great deal of folks like me who’ve been informed they’ve one thing like fibromyalgia or MS or some neurological situation, when truly it might be one thing post-vaccine or Covid itself.
“What I do know is there are lots of people struggling.”
There may be frustration at being positioned on a nine-month ready checklist to entry the NHS’ lengthy Covid companies after which being taken off it, for causes that stay unclear to him.
He has paid for personal remedy, chatting with round 30 medical doctors the world over and present process the identical variety of MRI scans, which has created a way of claustrophobia.
Determined to enhance his high quality of life, he underwent monoclonal antibody remedy a number of months in the past, injections which attempt to assault the spike proteins that exist within the physique from Covid and the vaccines.
There may be a proposal on the desk to embark on a riskier experimental remedy, which entails six weeks of triple antibiotics being infused intravenously into the bloodstream within the hope it could flush out any underlying bacterial infections, together with Lyme illness, which has additionally been instructed as a attainable contributor.
He has to weigh up the risk to his life but in addition his household funds, as his dwelling has already been remortgaged.
“There’s a level the place you surprise if you need to cease looking, as it’s so costly. It’s not straightforward with cash. My spouse is working actually laborious and we’re making an attempt to offer the youngsters the perfect life attainable.
“Equally, when individuals are saying there may be the likelihood this may work, it’s so laborious to not attempt it. I used to be with a rheumatologist who informed me there was somebody in 4 weeks in the past who was in a wheelchair and now they’re operating after it. You get these tales. The medical doctors are telling the reality, however I do know they won’t work for me.
“A number of our life financial savings have been spent on looking for a method to reside. My dad and mom have been actually supportive. They don’t need me to surrender. It will be straightforward to surrender and say that is in all probability lengthy Covid however I need to reside the perfect life I can.”
Currie has obtained assist from so many individuals, together with within the soccer trade. Amongst those that have been an amazing emotional assist is TNT Sports activities presenter Lynsey Hipgrave, whereas Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney supplied to return on a stroll with him after listening to of his situation. Ally McCoist checks in as soon as a month and the pair have been on a number of walks collectively.
“You’re employed with folks for years and also you hit it off with them while you stand subsequent to them however you don’t essentially see them rather a lot,” says Currie.
“Steve McManaman is an absolute gent. Sometimes he will get on the prepare from up north right down to London simply because he is aware of I want somebody to stroll with for a few hours.
“He has been so, so sort providing me assist and assist.”
Final summer time, Jake Humphrey selected to step down as BT Sport’s lead presenter, releasing up the coveted Champions League function which Currie would absolutely have been a contender for.
“Issues have been going properly,” he says. “I’d wish to assume I might have been thought-about for among the prime jobs. Who is aware of?
“That was troublesome initially however it bought so unhealthy so shortly my actual focus was on staying alive, so I didn’t give that an terrible lot of thought. I nonetheless miss it however I’m making an attempt to understand what I can do.
‘That considered, ‘That might have been me in that seat or standing pitchside’ hasn’t actually been on my thoughts.”
Currie is indebted to TNT Sports activities for permitting him to proceed working in a special function as a marketing consultant, serving to the manufacturing crew and nonetheless interviewing footballers remotely.
A spotlight was Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard gifting him a signed shirt after their chat, which has helped give him a way of objective once more.
“I bear in mind the medical doctors speaking about ‘the one per cents’ and in the event you can carry on getting one per cent higher each few months they add up. I feel I’ve.
“There isn’t a means I may have even sat right here and spoken to you 18 months, a 12 months or in all probability even six months in the past.
“I don’t know if I’m going to get again to who I used to be. I’ve accepted that, however I’m going to offer it a bloody good attempt to discover a method to hold residing.”
(Prime photograph: Craig Foy/SNS Group by way of Getty Photographs)