Emmerdale star rushed to hospital after hallucinating for four days in hotel room
EMMERDALE star Mike Parr has revealed he was rushed to hospital after falling ill and spending four days in a hotel room hallucinating.
The actor – who plays Ross Barton in the ITV soap – told how he was hospitalised with suspected Legionnaire’s disease while working in India.
Filming for a Bollywood production in India, one of his colleagues found him in his hotel room in a bad way.
He was delirious and hallucinating and had spent four days falling apart.
Mike told the Mirror: “I dropped about 20lb in four days and my cheekbones were starting to protrude.
“I’d been in my room hallucinating for four days. I didn’t know what was going on. I was delirious. I’m a massive chess player and I was so out of it I kept thinking I was a chess piece.”
Doctors treated him for severe dehydration and gave him electrolytes that made him sick before putting him on a drip.
He added: “Being taken to hospital in a foreign country is always scary, but especially when you can’t communicate with the doctors.”
The actor recently made a bombshell return to Emmerdale after bosses tempted him with a long-term contract.
But having left the soap in 2019 to pursue a career in Hollywood and utilise his joint American citizenship, things didn’t go exactly to plan with covid.
So instead he returned to the UK and has had success in a string of shows and stage productions and always kept Emmerdale in his rear view mirror.
However this year he agreed to return over another job for one simple reason – more job security.
He told the Metro: “I was on a job in India, and I was saying to a cast member, I really want to be in a position where I’m turning down work, and then within the space of a week Emmerdale called, but I also had the option to go on tour with a play.
“I had to make a decision in terms of what I wanted to do, and it was the hardest decision of my life! Be careful what you wish for because turning people down was not the position I wanted to be in.”
He added: “I had played both characters before. I had been Ross and then for the play, it was Rita, Sue and Bob Too. We had done it in my hometown in Liverpool.
“Both have their positives, both have their drawbacks but ultimately, coming back to Emmerdale was a longer contract, it just meant I had a bit more chance of some security which, in this industry, is really hard to come across.
What is Legionnaire's disease?
LEGIONNAIRE's disease is a lung infection you can get from inhaling droplets of water from things like air conditioning or hot tubs.
Tiny droplets of water that are contaminated with bacteria can cause the disease if you inhale them.
It’s usually caught in places like hotels, hospitals or offices where the bacteria have got into the water supply.
You can get Legionnaires’ disease from things like:
- Air conditioning systems
- Humidifiers
- Spa pools and hot tubs
- Taps and showers that are not used often
Legionella bacteria can sit in showers and taps that haven’t been used for a while, which is why some experts urge holidaymakers to run taps and showers before using them.
Symptoms of Legionnaire’s disease include:
- A cough
- shortness of breath
- Chest pain or discomfort, particularly when breathing or coughing
- A high temperature
- Flu-like symptoms
The NHS advises that you get an urgent GP appointment or call NHS 111 if you’ve had a cough for three weeks or more, feel short of breath, have chest pain that comes and goes or are coughing up blood.
You may need to be treated in hospital if you’re diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease
“I wanted to do both jobs and we tried to see if schedules could work but it wasn’t going to.
“Ultimately, I decided to come back to what feels like home and that was Emmerdale.”