The Great British Baking Show's Prue Leith rushed to hospital after losing speech and vision

The Great British Baking Show star Dame Prue Leith has revealed she was rushed to the hospital in a blue-light ambulance after suffering a severe health scare that left her unable to speak or see properly.

Writing in her column Prue's News for the September issue of The Oldie magazine, the 86-year-old culinary icon recalled how a sudden medical episode during a trip to Yorkshire led her husband, John Playfair, to fear she was suffering a stroke.

According to The Sun, Leith explained that while she recognized the onset of a familiar, extreme migraine attack, her symptoms rapidly progressed until she lost half her field of vision and couldn't formulate coherent sentences.

“First, I can see only half of whatever I'm looking at,” Leith wrote.“This time, my incomprehensible jumble of disconnected words convinced John I was having a stroke. I tried to tell him it was just a migraine, but I couldn't string two words together.”

The veteran presenter had a terrifying health scare earlier this year (Joe Maher/Getty Images)

Emergency hospitalization and tests

Alarmed by her slurred speech, Playfair immediately dialed their doctor, who promptly ordered an ambulance. Although Leith was able to perform basic physical mobility checks—such as raising her arms and making fists—medical staff insisted she be transported directly to Harrogate Hospital for urgent evaluation.

Upon arrival at the emergency room, Leith underwent extensive assessments before doctors decided to perform a precautionary CT brain scan to rule out a mini-stroke or internal bleeding.

“In spite of my assuring him (I'd recovered coherent speech by then) that it was a migraine, he decided on a CT scan, just to be sure,” she recalled, as per The Herald.

Following a multi-hour wait and clear scan results, the longtime television judge was discharged in the early hours of the morning after a ten-hour hospital stay.

Despite the scare, thankfully Prue made a full recovery (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Fortnum & Mason)

Grateful for medical care

Reflecting on the ordeal, Leith praised the healthcare staff who treated her throughout the night, calling the paramedics, nurses, and doctors “cheerful, sympathetic, polite, helpful and professional.”

Leith noted that she has suffered from severe visual and aphasic migraines since childhood, recalling her very first episode at nine years old when her speech similarly failed her.

“I knew all along that all I had was a migraine,” she added. “But since the speech problem is a classic symptom of a stroke, and my extreme old age being a time when mini strokes are common, everyone was determined to be safe not sorry.”

Now fully recovered, the beloved television personality is back home and resuming her normal schedule.