The 58-year-old England legend revealed that his heart stopped while being treated for alcohol addiction at an Arizona clinic 12 years ago. Doctors saved him by injecting him directly into the heart.
Gascoigne decided to give up alcohol abruptly, which caused a severe crisis and a coma.
“Looking back at what happened in Arizona, when I died on the operating table, it was really scary. The doctors said they were able to bring me back. I came to, I was completely under the influence of drugs. Then he called his family and said, ‘It’s okay, I’m over it, I’m fine.'”
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After coming out of the coma, he learned that false rumors about his death were spreading around the country.
“When I got back to Newcastle, a woman in the street looked at me and said, ‘I thought you were dead.’ And I answered: “Of course, I’m not dead!” – recalls Gascoigne.
The former Newcastle, Tottenham and Everton player added that his time at the clinic was a turning point:
“If I had gone to another place then, I think I wouldn’t be here anymore. I was in a coma for 18 days, I woke up and didn’t understand what day it was today.”
Gascoigne is now trying to stay healthy and returns to Arizona from time to time to remind himself of what he had to go through.
Source: sport.ua