- Darrell Currie has told the story of how his life turned upside down
- Currie revealed in January that she suffers from a chronic pain condition.
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TNT Sports host Darrell Currie has spoken out about the illness that has forced him to fight for his life for the past two years.
The 41-year-old was a regular part of BT Sport’s coverage of Scottish football and the Champions League before his life took a sudden turn for the worse in September 2022.
Currie was live on air, working a Champions League clash between Celtic and Real Madrid alongside Michael Owen, Chris Sutton and Gordon Strachan.
The presenter then felt an intense pain in his head and it was the beginning of a health nightmare that has tormented him ever since.
He said The athletic:I felt like a bomb had gone off in my brain. Like something had exploded in my head. The moment it happened, I remember holding on to the chair.
TV presenter Darrell Currie has opened up about the illness that has left him fighting for his life.
Currie was a regular feature of BT Sport’s coverage of Scottish and European football.
‘I felt dizzy, like I was going to fall out of my seat and pass out. I managed to finish the talk and make it to the break, but I came off the air feeling terrible.
“When I went back to the TV trucks, I felt like the ground wasn’t there. I had no clear idea of where I was.”
Currie, who was initially diagnosed with ear inflammation (labyrinthitis), returned to present coverage of another game the following day but revealed his producer stepped in to take him off air.
‘I had a hard time getting up and every time I turned my head to talk to the experts, I felt like I was going to faint or fall.
‘I take great pride in my work, so I would never, ever leave a show, but that night the producer saw that something was not right with me. He came into the stadium during the game and told me that he was getting me off the air. It was a huge weight off my shoulders.’
That was the last time Currie was able to work on live television as the pain began to spread throughout his body.
Prior to joining BT Sport (now renamed TNT Sports), Currie worked for BBC Scotland, CNN International and ESPN.
A specialist in Germany eventually informed Currie that he believed he had the early symptoms of arachnoiditis, a rare, progressive inflammatory disease that affects the part of the body that protects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
A specialist in Germany told Currie he had early symptoms of arachnoiditis, a rare, progressive inflammatory disease.
The presenter was horrified to read how the paralysis tends to get worse over time.
Currie said: ‘For those few months after that diagnosis, I’m not sure I wanted to be alive.
“I often talked to my wife about what the point of being here was. I couldn’t see the light of day.
‘I would never have killed myself as I remember speaking to Kris Boyd about his charity and I know what that can be like for your family, leaving them like that.
‘I never told anyone I was thinking about it, but I was really trying to think of ways I could do it, even if it was overseas, so that it would be something assisted.
“The pain was terrible. I felt like my neck was broken, my back was broken, my whole body was broken. I could barely keep my head up. I questioned everything.”