Brendan Courtney says he was “in shock” when he learned he had a nine-inch blood clot in his arm when he turned 40.
The TV presenter says doctors never got to the bottom of why he had it but he is grateful it was caught in time.
The incident happened a number of years ago but Brendan didn’t speak about it at the time.
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He told RSVP Magazine: “I had an upper body DVT when I was 40. I thought I had a sprain in my arm and then found out it was a blood clot. I went to see my dermatologist with my swollen arm and now every time I see her she says I’m so lucky, that I should be dead.
“I remember being in the hospital and I went to see a joint specialist, who told me to see somebody quickly. So I went to the Mater and the guy who did the ultrasound told me I had a nine-inch blood clot, and not to move.
“I had been to the gym three times with a blood clot! They never got to the bottom of why I had it. I never spoke about it publicly, I don’t know why. I think I was in shock.”
Brendan was dealt a blow in 2017 when his dad Frank passed away and his sister Deborah was diagnosed with cancer.
The Keys to my Life host said she was very ill for some time, but has now thankfully recovered.
“She’s absolutely great. I actually said to her the other day, you’re not special anymore, shut up! [laughs]. I’m very close with her. We thought we were twins growing up until she made her Holy Communion,” Brendan told us.
“The same year that my best friend dropped dead of a brain aneurysm, Deborah got cancer, then dad died and it was like, ‘Woah, what the f**k is going on here?’.
“Deborah was very sick, God love her, but now she is remarkable. She is back driving and back working, and goes back to the oncologist every six months. She is so lucky.”
Brendan recently moved into his new home in Wicklow, which is beside Deborah’s. The telly favourite is close pals with celebrity architect Dermot Bannon but they had no intention to work together on renovations.
He said: “Full disclosure, Dermot’s right-hand man is my architect. I am mad about Dermot, he is amazing, but we would never work together because we’d kill each other [laughs].”
RTE asked Brendan to film a documentary on renovating his new home, but it was a resounding “no” for the Dubliner.
“I make television and I know how it all works. You have to have jeopardy, a moment where it falls apart. That is stressful enough without showing everyone on telly. So I said no,” Brendan said.
“I did share some stuff on Instagram and I didn’t realise how interested everyone would be. The kicker is the builder said to me, ‘Oh you’ve got people looking at these videos,’ so he’s been amazing ever since! [laughs].”
Brendan is in a good place at the moment between his career and new home and he counts his blessings for how things have fallen into place.
He continued: “I recently brought one of my good friends over to see the house and she told me, ‘You’ve never had anything handed to you, you’ve worked hard and hustled and this is a real example of that’.
“I feel like I’m in a ‘moving forward’ stage as opposed to a ‘gratitude’ one. I mean, I’m very grateful. I check myself all of the time – I have a great job and I own a home. I’m very thankful for those things and they didn’t happen by mistake. I worked hard for them. I also think – and it’s hard to get to this point – I deserve it. Life is good.”
Read the full interview with Brendan in this month's issue of RSVP Magazine, on shelves now.
English (US) ·