Dodgy curry saved my life

Date: 17-05-2003 Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States

A bodybuilder who was rushed to hospital with food poisoning yesterday revealed how a dodgy curry saved his life.

Douglas Black, 34, was raced to hospital after his late-night snack left him suffering vomiting and diarrhoea.

And when he arrived at the infectious diseases unit at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, doctors discovered he was suffering from a heart condition that could have left him with just months to live.

Douglas who, despite being just 5ft 9in tall, weighed more than 17stones, was told a faulty valve was restricting his heart's work rate to just 20 per cent of its normal output.

Doctors said the organ was as weak as that of an 80-year-old.

Douglas was referred to the cardiology unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Dying

Doctors there said they could replace the valve but warned he had a one- in-four chance of dying during the op.

Knowing he had less than a year to live if he refused, he agreed to the five- hour surgery.

And yesterday, six months after the life-saving operation carried out by Ciro Campanella - he told how he may owe his life to the poorly cooked king prawn and pineapple curry.

Douglas, of Edinburgh, who runs his own health food store, said: "I know that if I hadn't been admitted to hospital with food poisoning, I could be dead.

"Now, six months on, I have been able to start light training again and feel on top of the world.

"I know it was the surgeon, and his team who saved my life, but the prawns played a part."

Douglas recently held a fundraising bodybuilding competition for the hospital that saved him, raising £2500.