Richard Bacon hosts University Hospital Lewisham staff that saved his life on ITV Good Morning Britain

Two staff members from University Hospital Lewisham were invited onto a popular breakfast TV show last Monday after they saved the presenter’s life exactly one year before.

ITV’s Good Morning Britain’s guest presenter, Richard Bacon, was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital Lewisham last year after suffering shortness of breath where he was placed in a coma for six days having caught pneumonia.

Matron Martine Rooney and Dr Mick Jennings helped Richard recover and were invited onto the show to talk about it.

Dr Mick Jennings told viewers: “Our team helped you like we would help a lot of other people as well, it is nice for us too to see you looking well.

“His blood oxygen levels extremely low, the only way we thought you were going to survive… is if we did the breathing for you on the ventilator.

“You would have died. You get to a point where the effort you are making to breathe is putting a huge amount of strain on the rest of your body as well.”

Richard admitted he did not realise how serious his health condition was when he arrived at the hospital

Matron Martine Rooney said: “It’s very frightening when you can’t breathe. You start to panic and everything gets bigger and bigger and more an emergency situation.

“They [the staff] recognised the signs.

Richard told them: “My kids have a father because of you. There’s no way to prepare someone for how awful it is when you come out of a coma.

“Thank you for saving my life.”