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Donald Sutherland tells how scuba-diving on the Great Barrier Reef at 72 almost killed him
Last updated at 07:57am on 04.02.08Veteran Hollywood actor Donald Sutherland has revealed how he was struck by crippling chest pains – and feared he was going to die – after filming underwater scenes for his latest movie on the Great Barrier Reef.
The 72-year-old star was taken ill after returning to Los Angeles, where he lives, during a break in shooting Fool's Gold – a sunken treasure adventure starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson and Ewen Bremner.
"I was out at lunch with my wife, Francine, and I had a pain in my chest that you could not believe," said Canadian-born Sutherland, who gave up smoking and heavy drinking 40 years ago.
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Agony: First Donald Sutherland thought he was having a heart attack, and then he was told he might have lung cancer
"Every time I took a breath, I would scream. It was awful.
"My wife drove me straight to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
"The policeman who took me in – because I couldn't walk – shouted out that I was having a heart attack."
Doctors examined the actor immediately, giving him an MRI and CAT scan and an electrocardiogram test, but could find nothing wrong – despite the intense pain remaining.
Sutherland's own physician and his movie-star son Kiefer rushed to the hospital as the family feared the worst.
But the pain abated after Sutherland was given morphine, and he was allowed home.
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Underwater kingdom: But scuba-diving is not recommended for over-50s
But the following day, the actor, who learned to scuba-dive for his role in Fool's Gold, began coughing uncontrollably.
"Finally, I coughed something up," he said.
"I initially thought it was chocolate. But when I looked closer, it was blood. I was pretty scared.
"I called my doctor immediately and went back into the hospital.
"They did a nuclear scan of my lungs and found what looked like a tumour.
"I asked my doctor, 'What does this mean? Is it lung cancer?'
"He said, 'Well, yes, it probably is'."
Sutherland informed the doctor he had to return to Australia to finish filming Fool's Gold – but was told that was impossible.
The actor, however, had other ideas and said to medical staff: "No way. If I've got lung cancer, there's no point staying - and if I don't have lung cancer, there's no point in staying."
Finally he was persuaded to have a bronchoscopy, which diagnoses conditions of the airways.
"So the next day at 8am, they wheeled me into surgery and they were going to give me a general anaesthetic," Sutherland continued.
"I said to them, 'I don't want a general anaesthetic because, at my age, it tears apart pieces of your brain that will never come back'.
"But they insisted they had to dig around in my lungs, so I allowed them to put me under.
"When I came round, the doctor was standing above me.
"The first thing that he said was, 'You haven't been scuba-diving, have you?'
"I said I had and asked him why. He said, 'Because you have a broken blood vessel in your lung. What we thought was maybe a tumour is, in fact, the clotted blood surrounding a broken bronchial blood vessel'.
"It was a big relief, but then the specialist told me I shouldn't have been scuba-diving beyond the age of 50.
"When I went back to Australia a few days later, I told the diving master on the film what had happened and he said, 'Oh God'.
"Then I told him, 'Apparently I'm not supposed to dive after 50 and I'm 72!'"
The actor says the diving master then confessed: "I know, I know, but I'm diving and my doctor told me I had to stop at 50 – and I'm nearly 60." Sutherland went on: "So my wife, who is there with me, says I can't dive any more. And then the other guy says, 'Yeah. I know. A guy near where we live went in. He was 72 and had an embolism and died'.
"I was not happy."
Reader views (2)
I am a 49-year old PADI dive instructor who learned to dive just under 4 years ago. I can emphatically state that physical condition, not age by itself, is the key to safe diving. I routinely dive with people in their 60s-70s with no ill effects. In fact, one of the dive industry's challenges is the graying of the diver demographic--too many young people see diving as a boring, old person's sport. And, in fact, diving's safety record is impressive. Organisations like Divers Alert Network sponsor research to expand the dive envelope and allow people with physical disabilities or chronic diseases the opportunity to participate in this safe, healthy activity. PADI requires all prospective divers to complete a medical statement and, if necessary, obtain physician's clearance, before starting any course in diving. It sounds like what happened here. I freely admit I'm guessing is that Mr. Sutherland may have experienced a lung overexpansion injury due to inadequate training, a pre-existing medical condition (did he get a physician's clearance?), panic leading to a breath-holding ascent, or a combo of these. What's interesting is the signs/symptoms of these generally occur shortly after surfacing, not Lord-knows-how-long after returning to LA. So, his signs/symptoms could have been due to smog, flying or almost anything.
- Steve Wolborsky, Talofofo, Guam, USA
Not dive after 50! I'm 77 and still an active diver so is my wife. About 18 months ago we were in Galapagos, diving with Hammerheads - scary - for the hammerheads. You have to move very slowly so they won't spook and run. Finally we worked our way into about 50 of them - wonderful. We were too busy in 2007 to dive, but we'll make up with several trips in 2008. The doctor who gave Donald advice doesn't know anything about diving.
- K C Dendooven, Las Vegas, Nevada , USA
