Sir Alex Ferguson said he felt "isolated" and "vulnerable" after suffering a brain bleed in 2018.- "I was lost, really," Ferguson told Insider ahead of the release of a new film about his life.
- The ex-Manchester United boss added that the medical team who helped him recover "showed a lot of care."
Former
Ferguson, 79, suffered a bleed on the brain at his home in May 2018, after which he underwent successful emergency surgery at Salford Royal Hospital.
The incident was the inspiration for a new documentary about Ferguson's life, titled Never Give In, which premieres in the United Kingdom on May 27.
Speaking to Insider ahead of the film's release, Ferguson revealed the confusion he felt in the immediate aftermath of his life saving operation.
"I was lost, really. I mean when I woke up hours later after the operation," the Scot during a conversation with close friend and billionaire venture capitalist Sir Michael Moritz.
"You feel loneliness because you lie in your room, and they tell you what you've done and certain things about the operation.
"But when you're in the bed and you're thinking to yourself: 'Are they telling me the truth?'
"You feel isolated, and I did feel vulnerable. I always remember, when my father had cancer, they never told him that he had cancer. So he asked me, and I didn't know how to answer him, you know. So I'm thinking, my father would have been feeling exactly the way I feel, lonely and vulnerable."
Ferguson, who guided United to 13 Premier League titles between 1986 and 2013, added that the loneliness he felt was intensified by the fact the hemorrhage appeared to have come out of the blue.
"When you when you're walking down the street and you feel fit, you never think the end's coming," he said. "You're going to football matches or you're going for a meal and you never think that something like a brain hemorrhage is going to be thrust upon you.
"It was sudden, and there is nothing you can do but to trust and that nurses and the doctors to sort you out.
"And that's the point I'm saying about loneliness, when you're own your own then, that question enters your mind: 'Am I going to go be alright?'
"You know, because just two days ago I was fit as a fiddle, playing a game of golf sometimes, on the bike and exercising, you never anticipate it was going to happen like that."
Ferguson says the medical staff were incredible
Ferguson's surgery at Salford was led by neurosurgeon Joshi George, who said during the film there was "an 80% chance" the former United boss would not survive.
After the operation, Ferguson was fearful of losing his memory, while he also was unable to talk for 10 days after his voice "stopped" working.
"Excellent man," said Ferguson of George, who he says helped him hugely in his recovery. "Everyday coming to see me. Nadia was [another] one of those surgeons who was coming to see me.
"And the even after the left the hospital, he made the point of coming to see me, and me come to see him, asking me all the questions, 'How do you feel?'
"They showed a lot of care."
As well as raising £400,000 ($565,000) for the hospital at a fundraiser in 2019, Ferguson says he also went back to thank those who had saved his life.
"About a year and a half later, I thought it was a good idea to come and meet all the staff who were involved in the operation," he said.
"And it was somewhere around 30 odd, including porters and the ambulance driver. There was a lot of people involved in keeping me alive.
"I found it really exhilarating because I was the appraiser going round shaking their hands and thanking them. It was a lovely moment, and they appreciated me taking the time to thank them too. But it just shows you how many people it needs to do big operations like that."
Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to Insider ahead of the release of his new movie, "Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In." The film is out in cinemas in the United Kingdom on May 27.