Mahekk Chahal hospitalised, was in the ICU and on a ventilator: I couldn’t take a single breath (Exclusive)

Actor Mahekk Chahal was admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital in Mumbai for almost four days and was put on a ventilator, we have exclusively learnt. Chahal, who is recuperating currently, is still in the hospital to avoid a “relapse” as she confirms the news with us.

“I got pneumonia,” Chahal states, further elaborating, “I was in the ICU for 3-4 days. I was on an oxygen ventilator. I just collapsed on January 2 and it was like knives in my chest. I couldn’t take a single breath. I was rushed to the hospital and admitted immediately. A CT scan was taken. I’m still hospitalised, it’s been eight days, though I’m in the normal ward. I have improved a lot, (but) the oxygen still goes up and down. Both my lungs were infected.”

It’s a writ large to be terrorised with an episode of breathlessness. Chahal recalls, “I was super scared because I have never come to a point in my life where I can’t take a breath and I’m about to faint. Every time I was coughing it was painful, (And) I was thinking, ‘What is going on?’ as we had no clue.”

Only Chahal’s “close friends, family and her co-actors” from Naagin 6 knew about her condition. “I needed to rest, so I didn’t want to be in touch with anyone or reply to thousand messages asking for updates. I wanted to focus to come back stronger,” Chahal reveals.

Chahal’s mother flew down from Norway two days after the actor was admitted to the hospital. Meanwhile, Chahal believes it’s her constant travelling to multiple cold places like Delhi that led to her catching a cold of such severity. “I thought I had a normal cold, so I was doing all the remedies. I didn’t realise that the cold and the cough were so severe. Now I don’t want to take any chances, so I want to get 100% fit and then get discharged,” she concludes.