Mark Feehily is back and better than ever! Re-joining Westlife for their world tour, following his leave of absences after falling and getting diagnosed with pneumonia in November.
Opening up about his experience during an appearance on Such A Good Feeling with Steve Anderson, the Sligo man confessed he was extremely disappointed at missing parts of their tour, and especially not being able to perform with the band during their New Year’s Eve concert in Dublin.
Sharing what happened when her feel ill, Mark explained: “I had what I would describe as a hairy December and not in a good way.”
“Basically we started our indoor arena tour in the UK in mid-November and all was going well until the very end of November in Newcastle. About an hour before the show I decided, ‘Right this fever that I have is getting worse to the point that I am worrying about the show now’.”
Knowing something wasn’t right Mark sought a consultation with medical professionals, when he received the disappointing news.
“I went over and found a local GP and everything was sky high – all the different readings. So he just sent me to A&E and within a couple of hours I was lying in A&E,” he shared.
But upon arriving at A&E, Mark wasn’t alone: “There had been an English football match on that day for the World Cup and around nine there was a massive influx of injured football supporters that had been drinking and broke their ankles, their legs, their arms.”
“So I was sitting in this A&E while the boys were on stage in Newcastle playing the gig because they very heroically went ahead with the gig and I completely supported them in that. But I was in the A&E and I was on Twitter seeing how it was all going while lying in bed surrounded by injured football fans.”
Not long after that, the singer was diagnosised with pneumonia, which led to a lot of fear.
“At the start, the word pneumonia scared the living daylights out of me when the doctor first said it to me. But I suppose they broke it down and said to me ‘it’s just a very bad chest infection and as long as it’s treated properly and you take care of yourself it’s fine,'” he explained.
Mark had to drop out of the tour, and head home to Ireland to recover, during which time the 42-year-old felt like he was experience Covid-19 restrictions again.
“I very, unfortunately, had to go home and it was almost being back in lockdown because, for the first couple of weeks, I was just in bed all the time, and then for the next couple of weeks, I couldn’t leave the house. It was really cold so I was afraid to go outside,” he confessed.
While Mark was disappointed to miss the band’s concerts, he was quick to praise the Westlife lads for keeping the show going.
Gushing: “But as I said the boys had my full support and I am in awe [of them]. I mean they had a couple of hours’ notice before the first gig and all of my bits and piece had to be replaced or sung by someone else, the choreography had to be changed and they absolutely nailed it.”
“And the fans supported them and the fans sang along here and there to show support and there was a really positive atmosphere all around.”
The time of work was not appreciated by the father-of-one saying there was “this big dark cloud” hanging over his head. Adding: “It’s the first time any of us has missed a stint of gigs like that.”
But looking on the bright side, Mark shared: “It’s the first time any of us has missed a stint of gigs like that. Put it this way, I am very glad it’s behind me now and I am really looking forward to all the rest of the tour coming up.”
