Sir Alex Ferguson: The day the NHS saved my life

Sir Alex Ferguson: The day the NHS saved my life Fergie, 84, took over as manager of Manchester United 40 years ago, on November 6, 1986. He went on to transform not only the fortunes of a footballing giant, but the game itself Sir Alex Ferguson has paid an emotional tribute to the NHS staff who saved his life in a moving new memoir. As the legendary Manchester United manager celebrates 40 years since he took the helm at Old Trafford, he admits that he is only here to tell the story of his remarkable life thanks to the miracle of the NHS and the dedication of its staff. Fergie, 84, took over as manager of Manchester United on November 6, 1986. He went on to transform not only the fortunes of a footballing giant, but the game itself. He managed the club for 26 years until his retirement at the end of the 2012–13 season. To see more of the stories you love from The Mirror and to find them easily in Google then make us your preferred source. Free and easy-to-do, just click on the link here to find more from The Mirror at the top of your feed. During his time at Old Trafford, he won 38 major trophies, including 13 Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League titles. He is rightly lauded as the greatest manager of all time. But in his new book, 'Games of My Life,' he tells how he almost died after suffering a brain haemorrhage following Manchester United's match against Arsenal in May 2018. The first 'Game of his Life' was his return to Old Trafford four months later, accompanied by a medical team including neurosurgeon Dr Alexandru Cotici. A grateful Fergie describes how Cotici was careful not to touch a drink throughout the match and went straight to Salford Royal to start a shift after the final whistle. He tells his readers: "It is that sort of commitment from doctors, nurses and hospital staff all over the United Kingdom that helps millions of people a year. "Without them, I wouldn't be writing these words." He also recounts how his late wife Cathy, who died in 2023, saved him. His latest memoir is dedicated to her, with the words, "For 59 years she was my everything." On the day of his collapse due to the brain haemorrhage, he got out of bed "with a savage headache". "It prevented me from sleeping most of the night, and promptly collapsed against a shoe rack," he adds. Cathy heard him collapse, and he was rushed to Macclesfield Hospital about 20 minutes later, then to Salford Royal. He did not come around until the next day. He was asked a series of questions, including whether he had met the Queen and how many wives Henry VIII had. He joked: "I had indeed met the Queen, but I didn't remember meeting Henry VIII - or any of his wives." He goes on: "On the day they operated on me at Salford Royal, four other patients had surgery for the same complaint. "Only two of us lived to tell the tale." Sir Alex's autobiography, published in 2013, sold more than a million in the UK alone and was one of the fastest-selling non-fiction books of all time, with 115,000 copies flying off the shelves in the first week. For his latest work, he selected 21 games that were 'particularly meaningful,' taking him back to different points in his life. Rather than writing of the "big games" with United, he has gone back to those matches which 'mean so much' on his personal journey. The first is his return to Old Trafford after his operation: Manchester United against Wolves. He recalls: "It was one of the most memorable days of my life. As well as being able to thank all the people who saved my life, the reception I received from those in the crowd at Old Trafford that day meant more to me than anything. "It meant more than being in Aberdeen after we won the European Cup Winners Cup, more than during the various ticker-tape parades while I managed United, and more than at the end of the last game of my career. "Without a great deal of luck, I would never have seen that match." It was not just luck, but "an astonishing number of people" who came to save his life that day. He goes on: "Between 75 and 85 percent of people over 60 who have an incident like mine die. I survived because my wife Cathy was downstairs when she heard all the shoes come clattering down from the shoe rack on the wooden floor above. "If she hadn't been there, the referee in the sky might have blown the final whistle for me. Cathy had been due to travel to London a couple of hours later, so I was lucky she was still home. "She immediately called my son Jason who lives nearby. He rushed over and phoned Steve McNally, United's doctor, who on hearing that I had been having headaches thought that I might be suffering from a brain bleed." Fergie did indeed have a subdural hematoma, or bleeding on the brain, as shown by scans taken on May 5, 2018. By September 22 of that year, doctors finally gave him the go ahead to return to Old Trafford for the Wolves game. In the 27th minute, the entire crowd stood to mark his 27 years as United boss, and sang his name. One banner read: 'Every single one of us loves Alex Ferguson.' "I was greeted as if I had returned from the dead which, in a way, was true," he writes. "Many of the stories that were printed after the news spread of my brain injury read like premature obituaries. "It was an extraordinary feeling one that I had never previously experienced in all the years that had taken me from the tenements of Govan to Buckingham Palace. "When you are lying in a hospital bed, it is all too easy to think the rest of the world never knew you existed. It was so touching, I could hardly breathe. It got right inside me." Sir Alex was accompanied by a team of medics to the Old Trafford game and admitted that he was so overcome with emotion at the end, he had to go home and go straight to bed. In his final chapter, Sir Alex reflects: "I am not one to dwell on what maker has in store for me, nor am I afraid of dying. "I'm much more interested in squeezing the most out of life. " Games of My Life, By Alex Ferguson with Michael Moritz, is available in hardback, ebook and audio