BBC presenter Jackie Bird is now recovering at home after having emergency surgery for a rare bowel condition.
Doctors said the Reporting Scotland news anchor was three hours from death after suffering agonising stomach pains at her home.
She was taken into theatre at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride where surgeons had to remove sections of her small and large intestines after she was diagnosed with a strangulated bowel.
Bird, 50, was due to present Children in Need from Aberdeen. Radio presenter Kaye Adams was asked to stand in for her.
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