David Blaine at risk of sudden death

Main Category: Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia
Article Date: 19 Oct 2003 - 0:00 PDT


Illusionist David Blaine could die when he begins eating again on Sunday evening after his 44-day fast, a nutrition expert has warned.

The 30-year-old American has spent the last 43 days in a glass box suspended next to London's Tower Bridge, apparently surviving on nothing but water.

According to his pre-exit medical briefing, prepared by Professor Marinos Elia from the University of Southampton, he will need careful monitoring in order to avoid sudden death when he starts taking in food.

Blaine, who has suffered breathing difficulties and palpitations in recent days, will be lowered to the ground at 2130 BST on Sunday.

'He will then be put on a stretcher and taken off in an ambulance to a private hospital,' his spokesman said.

'He could be in hospital for a few days or more than a week.'

But it is thought that it could take as long as six months for Blaine to recover his muscle strength and return to his normal fitness.

Professor Elia's report concludes: 'There is a need for careful nutritional and clinical management of David Blaine after the fast.

'Not only because of the specific symptoms he has experienced during the fast, but also because inappropriate feeding can precipitate serious problems including sudden death (the re-feeding syndrome).'

Now sporting a straggly beard and long hair, Blaine spent much of Friday huddled up in his sleeping bag against the cold.

Sky One, which has been filming Blaine's progress, said an estimated 250,000 people would have visited the site between the 5 September start date and the end of the stunt on Sunday.

Blaine completed his last endurance test - standing for 34 hours at the top of an 80-foot (24-metre) pole - by jumping into a stack of cardboard boxes.

He emerged looking shaken and declared: 'That hurt', before being taken away in an ambulance.

When he was cut out from a six-tonne ice block after nearly 62 hours, he was clearly disorientated and said: 'I want out now. Something's wrong.'

As he was taken to an ambulance, he was reported as saying that his mind did not feel right due to sleep deprivation.

Six months earlier, Blaine had been buried beneath an enormous glass tank filled with water. A crowd of 100,000 watched as he emerged one week later, having lost 24lbs.

'Blaine-baiting'

For many, Blaine's success will leave them out of pocket. Bookmakers William Hill said most of the bets they took in the days after he began the stunt were for him to fail.

Since the magician entered the Perspex box he has had to contend with a campaign of 'Blaine-baiting' with passers-by taunting him with egg throwing and constant noise.

Earlier this week Blaine denied it was all a trick in an interview with US news channel CNN.

'No, I am really here doing what I said I was going to do,' he said.

'I have never decided to do anything for this length of time.'

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