Copyright dailyrecord
Former model Penny Lancaster has shared a terrifying account of believing she was "dying" after an emergency surgery . The surgery was necessitated by a slipped disc she suffered in the lead-up to her wedding with rock legend Sir Rod Stewart. In 2006, while on a trip to New York, Penny collapsed in severe pain. An MRI scan in London revealed that the slipped disc was dangerously close to severing several nerves. In her new book Someone Like Me, the 54 year old vividly describes her ordeal on the operating table, where she believed she was on the brink of death. She recalled: "When I shut my eyes, a bright white light appeared. I'm dying, I concluded. This is the white tunnel of light that everyone talks about. "Insane, the things that go through your mind when you're hallucinating. These cannot be my last moments, I thought, worrying that I'd be found dead and still looking terrified," reports the Express . "So I laid myself out serenely, clasped my hands across my chest and closed my eyes. When I woke, I was surprised I was still alive." Penny believes that the morphine administered by the medical team caused her hallucinations, but she wasn't warned about the potential impact. She said: "After many reassurances from the surgeon that he was the man for the job, no one had explained to me how the morphine might make me feel. "Immediately after I came round from the operation, I had a violent reaction to it. I couldn't stop vomiting. Then, every time I lay down, the flowers and the TV in the room started spinning." Penny had wanted to delay the operation due to her impending wedding, but her doctor convinced her to proceed or she would be walking down the aisle "in leg callipers and a colostomy bag". The smitten couple tied the knot on 16 June 2007 in Portofino, Italy. They have two sons - Alastair and Aiden - while Sir Rod has six additional children from previous relationships. This follows Penny's revelation about how her Loose Women colleagues supported her during a health struggle amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. While speaking to Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio show, Penny disclosed that she has kept a close relationship with some of the panellists she met during her stint on the show. She expressed gratitude for her colleagues who stood by her as she grappled with what she believed was a mental health issue during lockdown. Penny shared: "One of the other major things was when they saved my life when I thought I was going through depression in the middle of lockdown, which I think a lot of people were suffering from. "But in fact it was the menopause and it was my Loose Women girls that went 'darling Penny, this is not depression. This is your hormones.' So, they've been with me on many a journey and I'm so grateful for them."
