‘I came back from the dead’

PAUL GASCOIGNE has revealed he “came back from the dead” after dying on the operating table during an 18-day induced coma.

England legend Gazza, 58, has opened up on the moment his heart stopped beating while he battled alcohol addiction at a clinic in Arizona 12 years ago.

Gascoigne was given an injection straight into his heart by doctors to keep him alive.

The ace had gone cold turkey in an attempt to kick the booze.

But it saw him end up in an 18-day induced coma before docs brought him “back from the dead.”

The incident sparked fake claims that Gascoigne had actually passed away.

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And when he returned to the UK after leaving the clinic, Gazza stunned one onlooker who had fallen victim to the sick rumours.

Speaking to the Mirror as he promoted his memoir ‘Eight’, the ex-Newcastle, Tottenham and Everton star said: “Looking back at what happened in Arizona, when I died on the operating table, that was really scary.

“The doctors said they were able to get me back. I came around and I was doped up to f**k. I eventually got on the phone to my family and said, ‘It is OK, I am through it, I have recovered’.

“But I always remember coming back to Newcastle and seeing a woman in the street. She stopped and stared at me, she almost fainted.

“She said, ‘I thought you were dead’. I said, ‘Of course I am not f*****g dead’. I later found out that people were receiving text messages in stadiums.

“They were saying that I was dead. So the woman looked like she had seen a ghost.”

Reflecting on his time at the Arizona clinic, Gazza added: “I tell you what, if I had gone to any other rehab, I think I would have been dead.

“I could not remember much of it afterwards. When I relapse, I go cold turkey because I want to feel the pain. 

“In Arizona, it did scare me, but I did not feel the effects because I was drugged up. I stayed for an extra two weeks; I still go back sometimes, even when I am fine, just to remind myself of how bad it was.

“They told me that I had died. I was still wobbly on the drugs. I was sedated and in a coma for 18 days and I came around and did not know what day it was.”