Greg Rutherford: Olympian and Strictly Come Dancing star rushed to hospital after severe allergic reaction

Olympian and Strictly Come Dancing star Greg Rutherford was rushed to hospital by his fiance Susie Verrill on Saturday (August 5). The track athlete suffered a severe allergic reaction which left him ‘screaming, clawing at his skin and delirious’ after returning home from a run in the countryside.

His fiance Susie was forced to drive him to hospital due to a 40 minute wait for an ambulance. Describing the terrifying incident, Susie took to Instagram to detail what happened.

The couple, who have been together since 2012, went to A&E, where doctors were unable to diagnose Rutherford. Speaking on Instagram, Susie said: “Had quite literally the scariest time of my life yesterday...Was enjoying a lovely roast at a friends’ house with the kids, Greg was at home because he’d been for a run and he text to say he was having an allergic reaction to something and felt itchy.

“I didn’t think much of it until he rang me screaming two minutes later. And I mean SCREAMING. He shouted "YOU NEED TO GET HERE NOW" and so I drove back to our house while calling an ambulance, terrified I was about to get home and find him not breathing.

“999 said it would take 40 minutes, but that’s another issue to discuss for another day. Anyway I ran in the house and found Greg there again, screaming. Acting like one of those people you see in videos where they’ve taken bath salts...

“He was clawing at his skin and just screaming. Repeatedly. He ran to our car and while I rang 999 again to say I’d have to take him, we had to run every red light and I had to focus on not crashing while he screamed and tried to grab the wheel...

“He was delirious and I looked like I was kidnapping him. I was on the phone to the 999 call handler and the poor girl just kept saying, "OK, yeah he doesn’t sound good, please be safe but hurry".

she continued: “I threw him out at A&E, parked and when I got there they told me they’d sent him through to Resus - I think mainly because he was a 6ft 3 bloke acting like a psychopath and didn’t want to scare anyone.

“They pumped him full of steroids and antihistamines and it seemed to work pretty much immediately. Thankfully by the time I got there he’d stopped screaming and raking himself.

“The hospital recommended we get him tested, but said it could have also been viral. The doctor who suggested the viral thing hadn’t seen how Greg had been on arrival. I can’t explain how much pain he was in. This is a bloke who shrugs off a grumbling appendix.”

The incident comes just months after Greg revealed he had postponed his wedding following the death of a close family.