Hairy Bikers: Si King on their latest series 'Go North'

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The chef, who is best known alongside his real-life friend Dave Myers, is currently appearing on their newest BBC show, The Hairy Bikers Go North. The penultimate episode of the series airs Thursday evening and sees the pair explore the Peak District and its stunning cuisine. But worryingly, Si’s career was nearly stopped in its tracks but what he refers to as the “shemozzle with [his] head”.

Talking to the Mirror in the first interview since his ordeal, Si tried to play down his experience. He casually says: “I am fine.”

Speaking about his side effects, or lack of, the chef recognised how extremely lucky he was to recover from the condition.

Si continued to say: “I’m an incredibly lucky man to even be here today to talk about it. I can’t thank the doctors and nurses enough.

“There have been no lasting effects – none that you’d notice other than I am slightly madder than I was before. No deficit as they say.

“It’s an incredibly scary thing. More people die from this type of thing than survive.”

Before the brain aneurysm struck, Si acknowledged that he was feeling the healthiest he had ever been after losing a whopping three stone due to a diet he did with Dave.

But suddenly, the chef found himself being rushed to hospital for an emergency procedure.

“I just started getting a severe headache,” Si says. “Over a four-day period it got worse and worse and worse. I thought, ‘Oh my god I am in trouble here’.”

His mysterious condition then started to affect his every-day life. Talking about the worrying time, he said that he was watching rugby when “everything just started to fall off the bottom of the TV.

“Then I had this searing pain – the only way to describe it was like someone was going at my head with a rusty nail and a hammer. It was critical.”

In addition to the brain aneurysm, Si was at risk of suffering a stroke, which occurs when the blood supply of the brain is cut off. The condition is life-threatening, and Si admits that if he had had a stroke it “would’ve meant curtains.”

The NHS explains that a brain aneurysm is a bulge in a blood vessel caused by a weakness in the blood vessel wall. As blood passes through this weakened blood vessel, the blood pressure causes a small area to bulge outwards like a balloon.

Most symptoms only occur when the aneurysm ruptures (bursts), but when this happens, emergency medical treatment is needed.

Symptoms that indicate an aneurysm has burst includes:

• A sudden agonising headache – it’s been described as a “thunderclap headache”, similar to A sudden hit on the head, resulting in a blinding pain unlike anything experienced before
• A stiff neck
• Sickness and vomiting
• Pain on looking at light.

If detected before it ruptures, a brain aneurysm can be treated to prevent future rupturing. Recommended treatment usually involves either filling the aneurysm with tiny metal coils, or an open operation to seal it shut with a tiny metal clip.

In Si’s case, he also had a lumbar puncture, which uses samples of fluid from the base of the spine to analyse for signs of bleeding. This procedure is used when an individual’s brain aneurysm has burst.

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Recovery from a brain aneurysm lasts long after an individual is discharged from hospital, as the Brain Aneurysm Foundation explains. Survivors face the potential for physical, emotional, and cognitive changes that can be minor or significant, short-term or long-lasting.

Unfortunately there is no way to predict how long improvements will take, or even if much improvement will occur. Some physical changes that individuals might experience include: numbness, hearing loss, jaw pain, bad memory, clicking noises in the head, groin pain and hair loss.

Longer-term side effects that individuals may experience include:

• Fatigue
• Diminished sense of smell or taste
• Headaches
• Vision problems
• Lower back pain
• Constipation
• Slow reaction times.

Talking about his recovery journey at the time Si said: “I walk at least two miles a day and cycle when I can because with brain injuries it can be difficult. Your stamina levels drop for one reason or another. I’m not back working yet. I want to keep myself right. The last thing I want to do is fall over on a shoot. I want to make sure I am 100 percent fit. And I’m getting there.”

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