Reason behind 'Fifty Shades of Grey' actor Jamie Dornan's hospitalization
Actor Jamie Dornan faced a frightening health scare during a recent vacation in Portugal. The actor was vacationing with his friend, broadcaster Gordon Smart, and was putting up at a golf resort. Both Dornan and Smart at first experienced symptoms similar to a heart attack. Initially, they believed their discomfort was due to excessive drinking the night before. It was only later that they discovered that their health problems were caused due to toxic processionary caterpillars.
Why does this story matter?
Dornan is best known for playing Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades erotic film franchise comprising Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed. He was last seen in Netflix's Heart of Stone and Kenneth Branagh's A Haunting in Venice. Apart from being an actor and singer, Dornan is also an amateur golfer and has competed in the pro-am event at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Smart recalled the frightening experience recently
During BBC's podcast The Good, the Bad, and the Unexpected, Smart recounted the harrowing experience. He described feeling a "tingling in his left hand and tickling in his left arm" just one day into their vacation. As a doctor's son, Smart recognized these symptoms as that of a heart attack. "Now, I'm a fairly healthy guy but once you start thinking, you're having a heart attack, you're pretty sure that you're convincing yourself that you are having one," he said.
They were then rushed to the hospital
At first, Smart was taken to the hospital. After returning to the resort, he found Dornan suffering from similar symptoms. "Jamie said, 'Dear me. Gordon, about 20 minutes after you left, my left arm went numb, my left leg went numb, my right leg went numb, and I found myself in the back of an ambulance,'" Smart recalled. Interestingly, Smart also mentioned that paramedics asked for a selfie with Dornan while he was being wheeled out of the hospital room.
The toxic caterpillars were identified as the cause
It wasn't instantly that the two found out what had caused them the heart attack-like symptoms. A week later, a doctor informed Smart that their health issues were likely caused due to contact with toxic caterpillars commonly found on golf courses there. "It turns out we'd brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars," he said. These dangerous caterpillars have been known to kill dogs and even cause heart attacks in men in their 40s.
