TELEVISION presenter Stuart Jarrold is today back in Suffolk recovering from serious injuries which put him in intensive care during a skiing holiday in America.

TELEVISION presenter Stuart Jarrold is today back in Suffolk recovering from serious injuries which put him in intensive care during a skiing holiday in America.

As The Evening Star reported last month, the 60-year-old sports anchorman was on the final day of his skiing holiday in Aspen, Colorado, when an accident left him with ten broken ribs and a punctured lung.

He was taken to the Aspen Valley Hospital where he was in intensive care for three days before being moved to a general ward.

Even after he was released from hospital he had to wait nearly a month before he could fly home because of the damage to his lung.

Back home today, Mr Jarrold said: “When the accident happened I didn't think it was too serious at all. It seemed like just one of those things. I was a bit sore but I dusted myself down.

“One of the ski officials suggested I should have an x-ray and when they did that they took me straight to hospital.

“Once I was there, there were more x-rays and a CAT scan and they counted all the broken ribs. With that number of broken bones, it was little wonder that one of them had punctured a lung.”

He was released from hospital after about a week, but could not fly home for another fortnight because of the punctured lung. Mr Jarrold eventually returned to Suffolk on March 18.

He said: “I came home and saw my doctor who signed me off work for three weeks. I've got to see him again this week and I'll probably be off for another week but I'm itching to get back to work.

“I've been at Anglia for 26 years and I've never been ill - I didn't know what a sicknote was.

As he recovers at his home at Hoxne in Nnorth Suffolk, Mr Jarrold is left with very mixed feelings about his first visit to Aspen.

He said: “I have skied many times, but this was my first trip there and it lasted longer than I had expected.

“But despite the accident I have good memories. The hospital was fantastic. They couldn't do enough for me.

“And after I left intensive care I shared a room with a chap from Aspen and we really hit it off. After I had been released from hospital he invited me to his home for dinner with him and his wife and they have invited me back in the summer.”

And he had a final thank you for viewers who had sent him get well messages. He said: “There have been loads of cards and letters. They have really given me a boost.”

N Do you have a get well message for Mr Jarrold? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk