Gloria Hunniford admits husband was left in agony after taxi accident almost killed him

Loose Women: Gloria Hunniford 'petrified' of falling again

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Gloria Hunniford, 82, rarely discusses the terror-inducing accident, but has revealed that, had hubbie Stephen Way not leapt out of the way in enough time, he could have ended up dead. The now-78-year-old fell on his back while swerving out of the path of a taxi, and suffered a severe wedge fracture that he hadn’t discovered he had sustained until the following day.

“They told him if [the fracture] had been any further up, he could have been paralysed for life,” Loose Women star Gloria had revealed to Express.co.uk in unearthed quotes from 2020.

Stephen had just left the Royal Variety Performance when he tried to hail a taxi – with ill-fated consequences.

“He was waiting for it to come over from the other side of the road but, in the meantime, another taxi came whizzing around the corner and it would have killed him had he not jumped out of the way,” a traumatised Gloria revealed.

She added that Stephen was in “agony”, but initially refused to seek help.

READ NOW: John Cleese leaves BBC interview over line of questioning

“Because men are very macho we continued on to the hotel where the after-show party was being held and staff got him paracetamol,” she explained.

The next day, they attended the Pembury hospital together where the fracture that had almost left him incapable of movement was diagnosed.

He was sent home and instructed to wait for it to “heal naturally”.

For the first 10 weeks, Stephen was totally unable to walk, but the hospital fortunately had confirmed that his condition would not be permanent.

It could all have been very different – and Gloria has extended her gratitude to the NHS.

Revealing that her husband had been rescued not once, but three times by the health service, she added: “I owe the NHS for my Stephen’s life.”

The first close shave he’d had was in 2004 when he suffered a mild heart attack, which Loose Women star Gloria believes was induced by grief.

Stephen has lost four of his siblings to heart issues, and his own attack kicked in after the grief of losing his “favourite brother”.

“Stephen is an emotional man and I think he was so distressed at losing George instantly that it sparked something,” she elaborated sadly.

Fortunately, despite his family history, he has been able to keep any further issues at bay by maintaining his use of prescribed blood thinners.

Then, in 2012, disaster struck again – and Gloria instantly recognised the tell-tale signs of a stroke.

“Stephen sort of stumbled into the room and told me there was something the matter with his left arm and that it felt like cotton wool and that he had no control over it,” she explained.

Gloria’s father had died of a stroke, so she didn’t hesitate to drive him to the hospital rather than risk waiting for an ambulance.

He was seen within “seconds” and given a thrombolysis treatment to increase his chances of survival.

Meanwhile, Gloria has also shared an even earlier trauma she had experienced previously, when a car bomb exploded close to Harrods in the 80s while young son Michael was engrossed in the toy department, and she was looking at the china.

They were all instructed to file out through a side exit, but Gloria admitted in her autobiography My Life: “I was hysterical not knowing where Michael was.”

Gloria is appearing on Rip Off Britain tonight at 7pm on BBC One.

Source: Read Full Article