Dermot Bannon has told The Ray D'Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 that he recently suffered a pulmonary embolism - a clot had worked its way from his leg into his lungs - and has urged others to take care of their health.
"During the summer, we went away for a week's holiday and now, thank God, it was only a week's holiday," he recounted of his trip to Portugal.
"Day number three, I went to the waterpark with my two lads, who are teenagers," the Room to Improve star continued.
"As the day went on, I was tired - but you know the way you're always tired going on holiday? And I was putting everything down to just being tired and stressed.
"That evening, got back to where we were staying and I just said, 'I'm going to go for a quick sit-down on the bed' - and I was in agony... [I] got into the bed, and I couldn't lie on my side, couldn't lie on my back, couldn't lie on my front. I was there, 'I bet you I broke a rib on one of the water slides'. So I Googled that and, of course, as soon as you Google it, 'Yes, I definitely did'."
Bannon drove to hospital in the Algarve town of Lagos and after he was seen, he was told he did not have a broken rib.
He received a chest x-ray and was told he had a lung infection.
"I had had Covid three weeks before that, so it was all put down to that," he explained.
"I got better, the symptoms kind of subsided, flew home, and then a week later - if I'd gone for two weeks' holiday, I would've still been over there - the pains came back - but more severe.
"Lying in the bed, four o'clock in the morning, really sharp pains down my side. I was pumping Nurofen into myself to try and get rid of them."
The next day, Bannon visited his health insurer's clinic.
"She said, 'Yeah, you've a bit of a lung infection, it hasn't cleared up - but there could be something a bit more sinister. I'd like you to go and get a blood test done'."
Bannon went to A&E that day and the blood test showed "that there might be some clotting going on".
"Then they did a CT scan immediately. I had what was known as a pulmonary embolism, which was a blood clot that came from my leg, had worked its way up, was in my lungs - in both lungs."
Bannon said had he not prioritised his health, things would have become "worse and worse and worse".
"What happens is if you don't spot it, if you don't do something, the pressure on your heart can cause a cardiac arrest."
"Your lungs aren't producing a lot of oxygen, your heart is trying to pump more oxygen around your body, and the strain is too much," said D'Arcy.
"Exactly," Bannon replied. "And that's where the pain was coming from. And that's where the shortness of breath, you know, [was coming from]. I was exhausted walking around the waterpark."
Bannon said he had been "putting everything down to just getting a bit older".
"I was getting the news bit by bit of how this could have turned out if I hadn't have acted the way I did," he said of his crucial visit to A&E.
"And how could it have turned out?" asked D'Arcy.
"You can die from it," Bannon replied. "It's a clot. And unless they dissolve, they're blocking oxygen going to everywhere. And the pressure can build up because your heart has to work so much to try and pump oxygen around."
Bannon said he thought he was health conscious, as his father had suffered "a big heart attack in his 50s" and died in his 60s.
"I watch my food, I'm always doing a bit of exercise, I'm generally really good," he told the host.
"Part of it was just me feeling infallible - and me feeling nothing can go wrong with me. 'I feel great. I will look after myself. I'm all of these things'."
"It was the week after it kind of really hit me," he admitted. "It's one of the biggest killers in Ireland, but nobody knows about it.
"At the moment, the treatment is very heavy kind of blood thinners, which will dissolve the thing."
Bannon said his embolism was spontaneous, "where there's no reason".
"It could be genetic, it could have been Covid when I had it, but they can't pin it on anything."
"I'm still at the early stages of this," he stressed. "I have to go back for all the assessments in the next couple of months and they'll tell me then what could have been, whether I'm going to be on medication for the rest of my life."
The architect said that if he has to stay on blood thinners, it has "implications" for his work.
"I work on building sites. You get cuts, you get knicks, you fall over - I can't do that. [I] can't go skiing because you could hit your head. Anything that might cause bruising is dangerous."
He urged listeners to heed the warning signs of pulmonary embolisms.
"Swelling or pain in one leg or a warmth or redness in your arm or your leg.
"Short[ness] of breath.
"The other one is chest pain, which is what I got. To describe it, it was like a sharp pain, especially when I took a deep breath in.
"And then the last one is if you're coughing up blood.
"But if you've got a sharp pain in your side and you don't know what it is, or if you're short of breath, go in to hospital.
"If you've any of these symptoms, straight in to A&E."
Dermot Bannon's Super Spaces airs Wednesdays on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 9:35pm.
The Ray D'Arcy Show, RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays, 3pm
