Charlie Webster may not be able to have children after she caught malaria last year.
The 34-year-old presenter almost died last summer after she contracted the bacterial infection and then developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a rare complication from a disease, but, although she managed to defy the odds, she’s terrified she won’t be able to fall pregnant and underwent an operation last week to find out for sure what her chances are.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she explained: "I’m really worried I won’t be able to have kids, because I love kids. It’s weird at the moment and it’s not settled. They are looking into it. It’s a real, ‘please, please’ — I want to have kids."
Charlie’s ordeal started during a 3,000-mile charity cycle ride to Brazil, but it wasn’t until she attended the opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics that she realised something was wrong.
The brunette beauty was put an induced coma after doctors discovered she’d been struck down with the lethal mosquito-borne infectious disease and her family were told to expect the worse because it was highly unlikely she would survive or, if she did pull through, she’d probably be brain damaged.
However, Charlie managed to fight back and doctors described her recovery as a "miracle", although she has admitted she still gets flashbacks of her coma.
She explained: "I was lying on my sofa for a second, looking at the ceiling, and I just had a flashback to the ceiling in Rio. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even lift my little finger. That’s what a flashback is — anything that triggers a memory of what happened. I wake up in the night and think I’m still in a coma. It scares me.
"I’ve been given coping mechanisms and it’s really important to ground yourself to show you’re not there, and safe. I just keep crying and I didn’t understand why, but it’s normal. I’m embracing it — it’s a good release. I can’t express how hard it was to overcome."
Charlie Webster worried she can’t have kids
