Britain’s Got Talent finalist Tom Ball has revealed he rushed to A&E with a life-threatening condition just hours before the biggest moment of his life.
The schoolteacher from West Sussex found himself lying in a hospital bed fearing he’d miss out on performing in the final of the competition.
Tom, 24, has type one diabetes and was suffering from ketoacidosis. The condition is a potentially fatal complication for those with diabetes as it involves the body not having enough insulin to break down sugar into energy.
The singer, who recently got married, has told how he was terrified he wouldn’t get a chance to perform while in the grips of the health scare.
"I just kept thinking, I can't be here. This can't be happening. I've got the final in two days," he told The Sun.
Tom’s blood sugar levels affect his ability to sing so he’d made sure to keep a close eye on them throughout the competition, but he got very sick in the days leading up to the final.
Tom, who is an ambassador for Diabetes UK told the publication: "I just started feeling horrendous. I was feeling really sick and just completely drained.
"I was sitting in bed after a day of trying to get my ketones under control, and my wife and I ended up ringing NHS 111, who told us to head to the hospital as things weren't coming under control.
"I've been hospitalised for diabetes maybe eight times in my life. For me to go it had to be serious."
He told how his wife Hannah, who is an NHS nurse, rushed him to A&E where he spent hours with specialist medics trying to get his condition under control.
He spent the time he was admitted counting the hours until he had to be on stage, singing in front of the nation for a shot of winning the show.
According to the NHS, ketoacidosis can cause dizziness, confusion and nausea,
Tom explained that the build-up of toxins can attack his body and cause him to lose limbs, starting with fingers and toes, if not treated urgently.
Diabetes can also cause blindness, which knowing, he said, made it very difficult for him to stay in a positive mindset ahead of the BGT final.
Tom was discharged from the hospital and got home at 4am before getting straight back to rehearsals, despite the fact that hospital admission for an attack as serious as his would usually take days to recover from.
The singer went on to explain how he make the decision not to tell the show’s producers about his health scare in case he was forced to pull out of the competition the day before the final.
He told the publication how he didn’t want to “put any excuses out there” if his performance didn’t go to plan, and wanted his song to be about his talent, rather than his diabetes.
"I did tell my researcher in case something went really wrong, but I asked them not to tell anyone at all. I didn't want it made into an issue. It was kept secret," he said.
Tom narrowly missed out on the BGT crown, finishing in third place, but that hasn’t stopped his career from taking off.
He’s spent time singing across the US, Canada and Europe since the June final, and launched an online musical school, Tom Ball’s Rising Stars, keeping him in touch with his education roots.
