Alan Brazil reveals his heart stopped during emergency liver transplant surgery

Alan Brazil has revealed that his heart stopped during an eight-hour liver transplant operation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, the 66-year-old talkSPORT presenter confirming this week that he came close to death on the operating table.

Brazil, a former striker for Ipswich Town, Tottenham and Manchester United, returned briefly to his breakfast show hosting duties to give listeners a candid account of the surgery. He had been absent from the programme for several months due to ongoing health concerns, with the full severity of his condition only becoming clear last month.

“I swear I thought my days were numbered, honestly,” Brazil told listeners. “They transplanted my liver. I had a tiny liver by all accounts and they transplanted it. My heart did stop for a bit, it came back on its own.”

The sequence of events unfolded rapidly. Brazil finished his Wednesday morning radio shift at quarter to ten, received a call at ten o’clock instructing him to contact Addenbrooke’s, and was on the operating table by 2.30 that same afternoon. He credited his family — wife Jill and his children — with persuading him to go ahead with the procedure.

“I didn’t want to do it but my kids and Jill said you’ve got to do it, you have to do it, you are doing it,” he said.

Brazil spent more than four weeks in hospital in total, including a week in intensive care, and spoke warmly of the care he received despite the pressures on ward staff. “There’s one nurse to 13 beds, that’s how bad it is,” he said. “The aisles were full of beds and machines.” He singled out his surgeon, Doctor Gibbs, for particular praise, describing him as “a legend” who had been frank about the risks before the operation began.

Brazil said he is now feeling “really good” but continues to experience difficulties sleeping and is managing ongoing issues with fluid retention. His return to the breakfast programme this week was brief, and no timeline for a full comeback has been confirmed.