Si King and Dave Myers in the early years of their career (Image: Getty)
star was left in agonising and debilitating pain after he suffered a brain aneurysm.
The star recalls to this day clutching his head in fear as he had the sensation of someone smashing into it with “a rusty nail and hammer”. The pain was like nothing he’d ever experienced before and, realising it was no ordinary headache, he rushed to hospital where “all hell broke loose”.
Si gulped as realisation dawned that he was suffering from a condition from which “more people die than survive”. After doing a lumbar puncture, medics found blood in his spinal fluid and grew “really worried”.
A blood vessel had bulged and then burst, causing his violent headaches and leading him to be diagnosed with an intercranial aneurysm back in 2014. Reflecting on his ordeal later, he recalled: “I had to sign a load of forms to say I understood I may make it, or I may not.
“It’s not just the ‘am I going to die here?’ thing. It’s the knowledge that even if you don’t die, you can be left with damage to the brain.” Three out of every five people who receive surgery from a ruptured aneurysm die within two weeks of it, so Si faced a suspenseful wait.
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Si King has had traumatic health battles (Image: INSTAGRAM)
Happily, he was one of the lucky ones who was back on his motorbike and raring to go within just a month of the horror symptoms.
Besides the trademark terrifyingly painful “thunderclap headache”, sufferers can also experience nausea and vomiting, a stiff neck and pain in the eyes when looking into light.
To avoid the risk of an aneurysm, the NHS recommends that people quit smoking and work on achieving or maintaining a healthy weight.
Another health battle Si struggled with, alongside his co-star Dave Myers, was their weight , after the former shot up to 19.5 stone.
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Hairy Bikers Si King and Dave Myers worked together (Image: Getty)
At 18 stone, Dave wasn’t far behind and
He told them: “Look lads, you’re middle aged now and morbidly obese. You need to do something about it.”
However, the true turning point came when Si had his aneurysm – and he recalled that if he hadn’t teamed up with Dave to lose the weight two years earlier, he might never have survived the surgery.
His weight somersaulted over the years that followed, but ultimately he lost so much weight that he no longer needed to take his blood pressure medication.
Now he’s still adjusting to life without his beloved co-star Dave following his tragic death from cancer earlier this year.