Ex-Sky Sports presenter Charlie Webster fears she can’t have kids following gruelling battle with malaria after Brazil charity cycle
The 34-year-old has made a miraculous recovery, nine months after being told she would die by doctors after collapsing on the eve of the Rio Olympics
NINE months ago Charlie Webster was in a hospital bed fighting for her life – but today the sports presenter seems to be a picture of sleek, honed health.
Looks, however, can be very deceiving.
The 34-year-old, who collapsed on the eve of the Rio Olympics last August, still has a long way to go on her road to recovery.
Only last week, Charlie was back in hospital for another operation as medics try to make sure she can have children after her battle with malaria and a bacterial infection.
Speaking for the first time about her ordeal, the Team GB ambassador says: “I’m really worried I won’t be able to have kids, because I love kids.
“It’s weird at the moment and it’s not settled.
“They are looking into it. It’s a real, ‘please, please’ — I want to have kids.”
The former Sky Sports presenter’s nightmare began as the most exciting chapter of her career was about to get under way.
She was all set to cover the 2016 Olympics for Team GB Online and to get there, had cycled 3,000 miles across Brazil for charity.
But the night before the Opening Ceremony, Charlie collapsed after suffering cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting then uncontrollable bleeding.
She was taken to hospital where doctors told her she was dying — news she suspects British doctors would not have announced.
As well as malaria, she had a condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome, a rare complication from a bacterial infection.
She was quickly put in an induced coma but soon her organs started failing.
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In three days her kidneys had failed and within a week her lungs had collapsed.
She was put on life support and dialysis.
Mum Joy, who had rushed to her side, was told to expect the worst.
Even if she did manage to survive, her mother was told she would be brain-damaged.
But Charlie fought back.
After four gruelling months and having to learn how to walk again, doctors were declaring her recovery a miracle.
Then, on December 31, the Sheffield-born sports buff decided to go for her first jog.
She refused to begin 2017 without having “put her trainers back on”.
But when she got back from her run, the pressure the running had put on her chest spurred a horrific flashback.
Suddenly, it was like Charlie was back on life support in hospital, unable to breathe.
Since then, she has been getting regular, terrifying memory bursts.
Charlie says: “I was lying on my sofa for a second, looking at the ceiling, and I just had a flashback to the ceiling in Rio.
“I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even lift my little finger.
“That’s what a flashback is — anything that triggers a memory of what happened.
“I wake up in the night and think I’m still in a coma.
“It scares me.
“I’ve been given coping mechanisms and it’s really important to ground yourself to show you’re not there, and safe. I just keep crying and I didn’t understand why, but it’s normal.
“I’m embracing it — it’s a good release.
“I can’t express how hard it was to overcome.”
Another ongoing effect has been that she is banned from drinking any alcohol for life because of her damaged kidneys.
That has led to yet another unexpected difficulty — dating turns out to be tricky when you can’t share a bottle of wine.
Charlie has been single since her 2015 split from Irish actor Allen Leech, 36, who is best known for playing chauffeur Tom Branson in Downton Abbey.
She says: “I’m not seeing anybody.
“If you could help me out in that department . . . I have been on a couple of dates but it is weird.
“One date actually drank a whole bottle of wine in front of me.
“I’m always encouraging and don’t want people to not drink around me but going on a date, it’s different.
“I’m sitting there watching him get drunk!
“It’s not that entertaining for me and it’s awkward as I’m asking for water.
"But I’m a cheap date! Maybe it’s a good thing. I would like to be with somebody, to have a family.
“At the same time, there are a lot of things I want to achieve.
“After what happened to me, even more so.”
Charlie has also struggled with the changes her athletic body has been through since being left underweight and malnourished by her time in hospital.
She adds: “All the way through my thirties I’ve been very body-confident.
“But this is the first time for a long time I haven’t been.
“After it happened, I was thin and waif-like, but also swollen.
“My whole face was swollen and my cheeks were puffed out.
“My stomach was also swollen.
“My mum used to joke I was eight months pregnant when she came to see me in hospital.
“For me, I actually felt quite fat.
“I was so malnourished but I felt fat.
“Even now, I’ve still got swelling.
“It wasn’t just physical, it was psychological.
“It’s weird about eating. I’m still not 100 per cent on the food perspective.
"I get bloated and that makes me very body-aware, especially when I’m doing a photoshoot.”
But there is no doubt Charlie looks sensational as she models for shoe brand Skechers.
It is the first step back to normality for the presenter, who as well as appearing on Sky Sports News has also worked for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
And although she can’t go out partying with her mates like she used to — she says “I’m now the designated driver, the DD” — her incredible turnaround has opened up new doors.
Charlie is writing a book about her ordeal, which is due out later this year.
She hopes it will act as a blueprint to help others overcome serious hardship.
There is also a series of top-secret television projects — and even rumblings of a Hollywood movie being made about her story.
In fact, the strong-willed star says there is no challenge she is not willing to take on — except for one thing.
She is yet to get back on a bike since the charity ride in Brazil that left her so near to death.
Her bike still sits zipped up in a bag at home in Sheffield.
She says: “I haven’t sat on a bike for the whole time yet and it’s getting worse in my head.
“ It’s a complete psychological thing.
“I’ve looked at it, it’s in a bag and I unzipped it. But it brought it all back.
"I will go back on it eventually, as I don’t want to have a fear of stuff.
“It’s not who I am — I will get back on it.”
Charlie Webster will be speaking at the United Nations Foundation Families +Social Good event this Thursday 15th June at 10.15am, The Brewery London, EC1Y 4SD. Tickets are free and to register follow this link: