There are a number of unanswered questions surrounding the tragic death of Michael Mosley, the doctor and TV columnist, on the Greek island of Symi last week. Why didn't search teams in the area find him sooner? Why didn't he have his cell phone with him, especially on a treacherous hike in the intense heat?
Mosley was no stranger to taking risks, usually on television, for the noble cause of enabling people to live better, healthier lives. One journalist called him “the great gonzo scientist of our time”.
Michael Mosley has made a career, in part, to push his body to the limit. Credit:
“He definitely had a sense of adventure, always wanting to try something and never worried about being proven wrong,” says Dr Giles Yeo, a geneticist who worked with Mosley on the BBC show. Trust me, I'm a doctor and recently featured on Mosley's podcast, Just one thing. “He was the pioneer in trying crazy things for TV.” This spirit of risk-taking extended beyond the professional to Mosley's personal life, sometimes with dire consequences.
In May 2019, Mosley and his GP wife Clare Bailey Mosley spent the weekend in Cornwall with Mosley's older brother John. The weather was unusually wet and cold, but that didn't stop the couple from taking a dip in the icy sea.
“We're very used to it, but after swimming for a few minutes we thought it was too cold even for us and challenged each other to a race back to shore. I remember thinking, 'I can definitely beat Clare on the floor.' And then everything went blank,” he said at the time. “The next thing I remember is being in A&E at Truro Hospital, with Clare sitting next to me looking very worried.”
Mosley had emerged from the water confused and disoriented, repeatedly asking if it was 2017 and if he had passed out. His wife was concerned that he had had a mini-stroke, known as a transient ischemic attack, or TIA, which occurs when blood flow is temporarily cut off to an area of the brain. It's not as serious as a full-blown stroke, but it can be a precursor to one.
“I had no obvious signs of physical or facial weakness, nor was my speech slurred, both telltale signs of a TIA or stroke,” he said. “At this point I was lucid and the only thing that was obviously wrong with me was the fact that I had no memory of how I got there, or what had happened to me.”
After being examined, a senior doctor said that rather than a seizure or stroke, Mosley was suffering from a condition called transient global amnesia, a sudden but temporary disruption of short-term memory, brought on by swimming in cold water. It is a rare disease that can be triggered by intense physical activity, sex, sudden exposure to very hot or cold water or intense stress. After the incident, Mosley said he would never swim in cold water alone again.
“The serious point here is that you don't go swimming in cold water alone, especially if you're not used to it, because there are risks,” he said. “You know, especially if you're not in shape, you could have a heart attack, die. You could wipe your memory. Who knows? So try doing that kind of thing with someone else.”
