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Therese Coffey: Brain abscess from stress left me 'close to dying'

PA Media Therese CoffeyPA Media
Therese Coffey: "I do value life more now than ever. I came close to dying"

Therese Coffey has said she "came close to dying" after the stress of being a government minister left her with a brain abscess.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, the Suffolk MP said she spent a month in hospital after she started hallucinating and slurring her words.

She says she now tries to "live in the moment" after giving up the pressure of her role as a minister.

A brain abscess is caused by "pus-filled swelling in the brain".

The 52-year-old believes she started to became ill in 2018 because she "overdid it and burnt the candle at both ends".

"Michael [Gove] had come in [as environment secretary] and had really upped the pace and was really pushing on a variety of issues, and we were working very long hours trying to get stuff done and really trying to make a difference," she told the paper.

Ms Coffey remembered first noticing symptoms and feeling not "quite myself" around this time, but brushed it off as brain fog.

However, on the day of the local elections of 3 May 2018, she began to realise "something was badly wrong".

"I can always tell when I'm not well because I don't eat, but also when I dragged myself out to vote, I couldn't actually remember exactly where I lived," she said.

Her sister, Clare, who has worked in her parliamentary office as a secretary since 2015, phoned St Thomas' Hospital in London and she was told to come in.

After a scan was performed, doctors discovered there was an abscess on her brain.

Ms Coffey said she spent a month recovering in hospital and was unable to drive for the next year due to losing "aspects" of her memory.

"I couldn't remember the words for certain things. I can remember thinking… I can't remember what these thing are. It was slippers, and it still happens now."

Ms Coffey admitted work had been a source of worry - even in the first moments after surgery.

"Almost my first thought was, 'I am going to have to resign as a minister'. I guess that just goes to show the kind of pressure I was feeling," she said.

She served in a few cabinet positions over the past few years - including as health secretary under former Prime Minster Liz Truss - but resigned as environment secretary last month, and now "lives in the moment" and "grabs opportunities".

"I do value life more now than ever. I came close to dying, and I think looking back that if my sister hadn't phoned St Thomas' [Hospital] and they hadn't done that scan, I probably would have been dead in a matter of days," she said.

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What is a brain abscess?

  • The NHS describes a brain abscess as "a pus-filled swelling in the brain" caused by bacteria or fungi entering the brain tissue after an infection or severe head injury.
  • Symptoms include headaches, changes in mental state, problems with nerve function, slurred speech or paralysis on one side of the body, a high temperature, seizures (fits), feeling or being sick, and a stiff neck.
  • People should seek medical attention when they have slurred speech, muscle weakness or paralysis, or seizures.
  • The risk of developing a brain abscess is very low in England. However, it is a life-threatening condition and should be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.