Gogglebox star Shaun Malone reveals he almost died and suffered brain damage after traumatic health scare

Gogglebox star Shaun Malone has opened up about suffering a "stroke" as a teenager.

The Manchester telly star, who rose to fame when he and his mum, dad and brother began appearing on the Channel 4 smash hit, revealed the secret health trauma he faced aged 15.

Speaking on the Coaching From The Sofa podcast, Shaun, who is now 24, explained he went into a coma when his brain began to swell.

“In 2010 I got sinusitis and in some way, the infection found its way back to my brain,” he said.

“My brain started swelling and my skull started crushing it so my mum took me to A&E saying ‘look he’s poorly!’ and they said it was sinusitis.”

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Explaining that he was given extremely low odds of surviving by doctors, Shaun added, “And then I collapsed one day at home and I ended up going into a coma and they said to my mum and dad that I had a less than 10 per cent chance of living.

“I was in a coma for a few weeks – and they said to my mum and dad ‘Shaun’s got brain damage, we don’t know what the brain damage is or how it’ll affect him or if it’s going to be really bad’.

“And when I woke up my brain damage affected me in some ways, like my memory but mostly the way it affected me was with my left side.

“I essentially had a stroke, I couldn’t move my left arm, my left leg, even the left side of my face. My sister has got pictures of me trying to eat.”

Shaun, who is part of the Manchester United Foundation and is an avid player of disability football, admitted that the sport helped him get past the traumatic experience.

“‘It had a huge impact on my mental health, I had gone from a very outgoing, young kid to then having all my independence taken away from me.”