Coronation Street Star Sue Cleaver’s Near-Death Experience After Shocking On-Set Discovery

Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver, who plays Eileen Grimshaw, recently shared a harrowing experience where she narrowly escaped a life-threatening battle with sepsis, told OK! Magazine. During an appearance on Loose Women earlier this year, Cleaver opened up about how a co-star’s observation on set led her to discover the serious infection.

The incident occurred while Cleaver was filming a party scene with around 20 people on set. “I happened to be working one day, and my colleague turned around to me and said: ‘Sue, your toes are black!’” she recalled. Despite feeling unusually cold and unwell in the middle of summer, she continued filming before going home, unaware that she was experiencing symptoms of sepsis.

Cleaver had previously shared this frightening health scare in 2019 on This Morning, explaining that she initially believed her symptoms were due to a flare-up of her IBS. Reflecting on the experience, she shared, “I went in on the Tuesday and late in the afternoon I said, ‘Do you need me in this scene because I’m really not feeling great? I need to go home and sleep.’ My side was sore.” She returned to set the next morning, braving the hottest day of the year with a hot water bottle to soothe her discomfort.

It was Cleaver’s Coronation Street co-star, Melanie Hill (who played Cathy Matthews), who first noticed that Cleaver’s feet had turned purple and blue. Still unaware of the severity of her symptoms, Cleaver went home after lunch, exhausted and ready for rest. Her husband, James Quinn, who also works on Coronation Street, was on a night shoot when he tried to call her. Concerned by her muffled responses, he immediately returned home to find her shivering uncontrollably.

“He rang our daughter, who’s a paramedic, and she said, ‘Get her to the hospital.’ My temperature was 39.9. I didn’t know I had sepsis until the next day,” Cleaver shared. She was quickly put on fluids and antibiotics, and doctors told her there was just an hour window of opportunity to treat the infection.

Cleaver described her recovery journey, admitting it took a “long time to get better,” and that she needed bed rest for several weeks. Interestingly, despite not usually having a sweet tooth, Cleaver craved “cakes, pastries, custard” during her recovery.

The experience was a sobering reminder of the importance of paying attention to one’s body and recognizing unusual symptoms.