A PENSIONER has today praised the mystery doctor who he believes saved his life after spotting dangerously high levels of sugar in his blood.Stanley Gooderham had been feeling unwell for days but was taken aback when he received an urgent phone call on the evening of February 2 telling him he needed emergency medical treatment.

A PENSIONER has today praised the mystery doctor who he believes saved his life after spotting dangerously high levels of sugar in his blood.

Stanley Gooderham had been feeling unwell for days but was taken aback when he received an urgent phone call on the evening of February 2 telling him he needed emergency medical treatment.

He had been to his GP that morning and had blood tests taken and was told to come back in a week, but later that night he received a call from Suffolk Doctors On Call, explaining that he needed urgent treatment as his blood sugar level was unusually high.

Mr Gooderham, 76, of Alistair Place, Claydon, said: “They said 'what medicine do you take for your diabetes?'. I told them I hadn't got diabetes and they said 'yes, you have'.

“My blood sugar was 33. The normal level is seven.”

Mr Gooderham was told to go straight to the Riverside Clinic where he was given medication to get his blood sugar back down.

He said: “Luckily I didn't need to go to hospital in the end but God knows what would have happened if I had not had that phone call.

“I'd felt really thirsty so I'd just been drinking lots of tea - with three sugars in it each time.

“By the time I got to the clinic I was really in a bad way. I was staggering around as if I was drunk and I could hardly walk. It was very scary.

“I honestly believe the man who rang me saved my life and I'd just like to say thank you.”

Mr Gooderham, who lives with his 83-year-old wife , has now been diagnosed with diabetes and has to take tablets three times a day to control his blood sugar.

A spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital said it was normal procedure for their pathology lab to contact Suffolk Doctors on Call if a patient's test results showed something which needed urgent treatment.

Suffolk Doctors on Call are currently trying to track down the doctor in question so that Mr Gooderham can say thank you in person.

The blood sugar level is the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood.

It is expressed as millimoles per litre (mmol/l).

Normally, blood glucose levels stay within narrow limits throughout the day: 4 to 8mmol/l.

In diabetes the blood sugar level moves outside these limits until treated.