Greg Rutherford’s fiancée Susie Verrill has shared that she had to rush the British track and field athlete to the hospital on Saturday (5 August) after an unknown illness left him “clawing at his skin and just screaming”.
Verrill, a social media influencer and blogger, posted about the incident on her Instagram page on Monday morning (7 August) and described it as the “scariest time” of her life.
Alongside a photograph of Rutherford, 36, sitting up in a hospital bed and appearing to grimace, she explained that the day began normally and that she went to their friend’s house for a roast dinner with their three children.
Verrill said she later received a text message from Rutherford informing her that he might be having “an allergic reaction to something and felt itchy”, but she did not think it was an emergency.
However, he called shortly after “screaming” on the phone, she wrote, adding: “And I mean SCREAMING. He shouted, ‘YOU NEED TO GET HERE NOW’ and so I drove back to our house while calling an ambulance, terrified I was about to get home and find him not breathing.”
The blogger said she was told that an ambulance would take 40 minutes. Once home, she “ran into the house” and found Rutherford inside, “screaming” and “acting like one of those people you see in videos where they’ve taken bath salts”.
“He was clawing at his skin and just screaming. Repeatedly. He ran to our car and while I rang 999 again to say I’d have to take him, we had to run every red light and I had to focus on not crashing while he screamed and tried to grab the wheel,” she recalled.
“He was delirious and I looked like I was kidnapping him. I was on the phone to the 999 call handler and the poor girl just kept saying, ‘OK yeah he doesn’t sound good, please be safe but hurry’ and I was like OK well this is a nightmare because I’ve been driving like three months. It was AWFUL.”
She continued her story in another slide, which showed a close-up of Rutherford’s skin on his thighs. It appeared red with raised bumps, like hives or a rash, covering the surface.
Verrill said she “threw [Rutherford] out” of the car in front of the A&E and went to park her car. Once inside the hospital, she was told that staff had sent him to “Resus”, which is a term used for the resuscitation area of the department.
“I think [they sent him there] mainly because he was a six-foot-three bloke acting like a psychopath and they didn’t want to scare anyone,” she wrote, adding: “They also pumped him full of steroids and antihistamines and it seemed to work pretty much immediately. Thankfully by the time I got there he’d stopped screaming and raking himself.”
In the next slide, she showed Rutherford still sitting up in a hospital bed, but appearing calmer. She said that they were allowed to leave the hospital three hours after they arrived.
Verrill added that she “felt close to having a heart attack” but reassured followers that she was fine otherwise.
“My question is – we did nothing differently yesterday in terms of eating/drinking but the only snack Greg ate was nuts – could he have developed an allergy, do we think?” she asked her fans.
“Have any of you had this? Hospital recommended we get him tested but said it could have also been viral. I appreciate rashes can appear with a viral illness but his body went MAD. The doctor who suggested the viral thing hadn’t seen how Greg had been on arrival; I can’t explain how much pain he was in.”
She recalled a time when Rutherford “shrugged off a grumbling appendix” in comparison to how he reacted to the recent illness, and asked followers to let her know if they had ever experienced something similar.
In her most recent Instagram Story, Verrill addressed suggestions from fans that Rutherford may have come into contact with a plant on his run that may have caused the reaction.
“We don’t think it was any sort of plant because the reaction began before he went on his run (although we appreciate this may have exacerbated symptoms with the sweating),” she wrote. “Greg’s having some tests this morning so hopefully it can start the ball rolling and if I don’t get back to you just yet, I’m so sorry. I’ve had about 500 messages already! Really, really appreciate all the advice.”
Rutherford, who participated in Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, also shared Instagram Stories about his experience.
In one slide, showing a close-up of his skin from another angle, he wrote: “I suddenly had a massive allergic reaction to something (no idea what) and had to get Susie to rush me to hospital. Thankfully they pumped me with a load of stuff and calmed it down. But it was HORRIBLE. This rash was covering my entire body.”
In a second Story, he shared a photograph of himself and added: “I’m not home. A little [itchy] still, but nothing like earlier. I was trying to get my skin off it was so bad. I’m going to get some tests done to figure out what it was, as I NEVER want to experience that again.”
The sportsman thanked the hospital staff for helping him, adding: “I was screaming at one point… So apologies for that too.”
Rutherford and Verrill have been together since 2012 and share a daughter named Daphne, two, and sons Milo and Rex, eight and five respectively. The couple were due to be married in May, but postponed their wedding because of the death of a family member.
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