TV star Charlie Webster arrives back in the UK after contracting malaria in Brazil before Rio Olympics
TV STAR Charlie Webster has arrived home in the UK after contracting a rare strain of malaria on her way to the Olympics in Rio.
The 33-year-old Team GB ambassador journeyed back home on a specialist plane with a team of medics on board, who continued caring for her for the duration of the 20-hour flight.
Webster, who was placed in a coma during the worst stage of the illness, remains in a stable but serious condition.
She will continue with her treatment in a private ward at Leeds’ St James’s Hospital.
Webster contracted the illness during the opening ceremony of Rio 2016, and was rushed to hospital on August 6.
The ex-Sky and ITV sports presenter had just finished a 3,000-mile charity cycle from London to Rio de Janeiro.
The journey saw her travel from London through France, Spain and Portugal before taking a flight to the north of Brazil and then cycling down the country to Rio.
But a friend said: “She had checked the medical risks and been told she didn’t need to take anti malaria drugs because of where she was travelling.”
Charlie arrived in Rio on August 4 and attended the opening ceremony at Maracanã Stadium the following evening.
But during the spectacle she began to feel unwell, which she initially put down to dehydration from her taxing cycling challenge.
A friend said: “Charlie started vomiting at the ceremony and thought it was dehydration and general fatigue from the cycle.
“In the early hours after the ceremony she went to hospital and was treated for dehydration.”
As her condition deteriorated rapidly, she was placed in a medically induced coma.
Read more: What is malaria and how is it spread?
Her mother, brother and manager flew from the UK to be by her side, with friends fearing the worst.
At the time, a pal said: “Charlie is battling for survival at the moment – everyone is distraught.
“But she is so strong and a very fit and healthy person in general so we have to keep positive."
A few weeks on, Webster is slowly regaining her strength – she managed to get out of bed for the first time last week, and her kidney dialysis has been cut back drastically.
Medics are now in the process of determining where she caught the disease.
Former Sky Sports star Webster was in Rio as one of the official presenters for Team GB, working alongside other big name ambassadors including Nick Grimshaw and Gethin Jones for various broadcasters.
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