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As a newborn baby, Andy Whyment underwent life-saving surgery following a collapsed lung. The procedure has left him with lifelong scars, but his mum couldn’t be happier.

His mum, Jackie, opened up about Andy’s fragile start to life – one that will stay with her forever.

“He had problems at birth,” she told The Mirror in 2019. “He had to have two tubes put in his chest whilst on a ventilator.”

Remembering back to the heart-wrenching ordeal, Jackie detailed that her son was in a special care unit for six weeks.

She added: “We were advised to get a priest, but he fought. We knew then he was here for a purpose.”

Leaving two star-shaped scars, “Fred [his dad] said he was going to be a star”.

Living up to his fate, the 39-year-old has also starred in The Royle Family, and was in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

Due to the medical care he received, Andy has since married and had children of his own.

The father-of-two shares a son, Thomas, and daughter, Hollie, with Nicola Willis.

A collapsed lung

The British Lung Foundation (BLF) explained a collapsed lung is medically known as a pneumothorax.

This occurs when “air gets into the space between the outside of your lung and the inside of your ribcage”.

Depending on how much air gets trapped in the chest (and if you have an existing lung condition), urgent treatment might be required.

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Where does the air come from?

The air that builds up inside of the ribcage usually comes from a tear on the outside of the lung.

Should the tear be small, it’ll close as the lung collapses down, meaning only a small amount of air can escape.

However, if there’s a larger hole, then the lung may collapse down completely.

If there’s a chest injury, then air can come from outside of the body.

A primary spontaneous pneumothorax occurs more commonly in healthy young adults.

The small tear on the lung is thought to arise in an area of weakness when the lung was developing. It’s likened to a “small blister”.

Those with an existing lung condition can develop a secondary spontaneous pneumothorax.

There are certain lung conditions that can weaken the edges of the lung, making it more likely to tear.

These include: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; lung cancer; cystic fibrosis; tuberculosis; sarcoidosis; and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Pneumothorax caused by a chest injury can result from a car crash or a medical procedure.

For instance, acupuncture gone wrong – in that the needle punctures the lining of the lung – can cause a pneumothorax.

Signs of pneumothorax include sudden, sharp stabbing pain on one side of the chest and feeling breathless.

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