Stuart Pearce feeling ‘brilliant in myself’ after health scare on flight | Stuart Pearce

The former England and Nottingham Forest defender Stuart Pearce says he feels “brilliant in myself” as he recovers from his recent health scare. Pearce spent five days in a Canadian hospital after experiencing chest pains on a flight from the United States.

The 62-year-old’s flight from Las Vegas to Heathrow was diverted to St John’s in Canada, from where he is arranging transport home. Speaking to TalkSport on Tuesday, Pearce said: “I just got a virus, I had a virus that just sort of attached itself to my heart that just needed clearing, rebooting and going through the process, I think.

“So from what we gather, when I get home I obviously will have some medical checks there and go and see my GP and one or two other things, I’m sure. But I feel brilliant in myself and have done since mid-last week to be honest with you, but I’m in really good hands.”

Pearce, who had been in the US to attend the Super League match between Wigan and the Warrington team he supports, began experiencing chest pains about two hours into the flight and praised the care he received from the Virgin Atlantic crew on board, who liaised with a doctor on the ground.

“They’re the ones who really impressed me; how well trained they were,” Pearce said. “My heart rate was racing, my resting heart rate from the time I was monitored on the airplane and the few days in hospital was anything above 155 beats a minute.

“Also my heart wasn’t pumping enough blood around the system by all accounts and there was some swelling, so they gave me some medication the first few days just to get that down.

“At the end of the week they said look, we’re going to stick a tube down your throat and if there’s no swelling around your heart we’ll stop your heart and reboot it again, so that’s exactly what they did on Friday. My heart went back to a normal rate and they released me the following day.”

Pearce said he found the show of support since his health scare “incredibly humbling”. During Forest’s game at home to Manchester City on Saturday a “‘Get Well Soon Stuart” message was displayed on the big screen after three minutes, referencing Pearce’s old shirt number. Forest’s manager, Nuno Espírito Santo, later described Pearce as a “legend” of the club and “part of our family”.