Ex-England defender Stuart Pearce reveals what caused terrifying medical emergency on plane

Stuart Pearce has revealed what caused his terrifying health scare after doctors had to ‘restart’ his heart.

Pearce, 62, was on a flight from Las Vegas to London when his heart began to ‘race a little bit’.

The former England and Nottingham Forest defender travelled to Vegas to watch Warrington Wolves’ Super League match against Wigan Warriors.

The decision was taken to divert the flight to Canada after Pearce was treated to by staff and medically-trained passengers.

It was at the hospital in Newfoundland that doctors ‘stopped and restarted’ Pearce’s heart to ‘put it back into a normal rhythm’.

Pearce spent several more days in Canada before finally returning home and was told his major health scare was likely caused by a virus.

‘My heart was racing a little bit,’ Pearce told The Times before revealing his resting heart rate was above 155 beats per minute.

‘The medical staff on the plane were magnificent and they made the decision after three hours to drop me off in St John’s in Newfoundland.

‘The hospital staff there basically stopped my heart and restarted it again to put it back into a normal rhythm.

‘I had five days there and another five days in a hotel waiting for the medical care to get organised, so an extra ten day’s holiday, basically.

‘They think it was caused by a virus.’

Pearce was due to be part of talkSPORT’s commentary team for Nottingham Forest’s Premier League victory over Manchester City earlier this month.

The health scare meant he was still in Canada when the game was played, but fans from both clubs paid tribute to their former player during Forest’s famous win over the Premier League champions.

Giving an update on his condition, Pearce told BBC Essex: ‘I’m very good at the moment.

‘The flight attendants were fantastic to me. I spent 10 days in Canada, the hospital staff there were fantastic, I was in good hands.’

Pearce was plucked from non-league side Wealdstone in 1983 and went on to make over 400 appearances for Nottingham Forest.

The former defender, nicknamed ‘Psycho’ for his unforgiving style of play, earned 78 caps for England while also playing for the likes of West Ham, Newcastle United and Manchester City.

Following his retirement in 2002, Pearce has held managerial positions at Man City, Forest and with England U21.

In recent years he has been a popular co-commentator and pundit for talkSPORT.

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