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Blaine stunt takes medical toll
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Illusionist David Blaine will end his starvation stunt in a matter of hours amid concerns that he is suffering from heart palpitations and breathing difficulties. There is also concern that Blaine, 30, may risk sudden death when he begins taking food again. For the last 44 days, the American magician has been suspended in a glass box next to London's Tower Bridge, with water as his only sustenance. He is due to emerge on Sunday, sometime after 9 p.m. (2000 GMT), and will be taken directly to hospital. "The clinicians then will slowly but surely start feeding him, first just fluids. We originally said he'd be in hospital for four weeks. Now we're saying two weeks," a member of Blaine's medical team, paramedic Paul Kenny, told CNN earlier this week. "I think he should be able to get up in two to three days. He could be eating again in four to five days -- but not large meals. It depends on how his stomach reacts. He'll be on drips at first and then blended food. "There'll be no Champagne when he comes out on Sunday. Anything at all food wise which touches his lips could cause problems with him." He added: "Mentally he's very, very positive. Physically not very good. He's very, very tired. He's got a few problems breathing-wise. A few problems with his chest, due to the cold." His Web site says that by day 38, Blaine was "occasionally incoherent and has been exhibiting signs of delusion," smelled strongly of sulfur and was longing to take a bath. The magician is experiencing an irregular heartbeat, caused by a lack of potassium and by thinning of the heart's walls, according to a statement on the Web site. Although no doctors have examined him, his urine is being checked daily to ensure he is not at risk from kidney or liver failure. Nutrition expert Professor Marinos Elia, of the University of Southampton, said Blaine showed several symptoms of starvation and appeared "visibly thinner" than when he entered his box. "These features, which are typical of starvation, have also been accompanied by other symptoms, such as shooting pains in different parts of his body, abdominal discomfort, nausea, and some irregular heart beats," Elia said in a medical briefing. "There is a need for careful nutritional and clinical management of David Blaine after the fast, not only because of the specific symptoms he has experienced during the fast, but also because inappropriate feeding can precipitate serious problems including sudden death (the re-feeding syndrome)." Earlier this week Blaine, told CNN he would never attempt such a stunt again. (Full story) Speaking via audio link, he said: " It's already been bad, my vision's really blurry, my head is always throbbing, I black out a lot, I'm just trying to conserve and make it to the end." He has endured ridicule from the public, with eggs and golf balls hurled at his box. Spectators have cooked food nearby and bared their breasts or buttocks at him. Other ill-wishers have banged drums and made other attempts to keep Blaine awake at night. By the final week, however, taunts had largely been replaced by encouraging shouts and handwritten signs stuck along the fence around Blaine's riverside enclosure. Hundreds of people -- teenagers, tourists, families with young children -- gathered daily beneath the box. Meanwhile, 10 police officers face disciplinary action after they visited the site of Blaine's stunt while they were supposed to be on patrol, police said Friday. (Full story) Thousands are expected to turn out Sunday to watch Blaine's exit, which will be broadcast on television and streamed to paying subscribers on the Internet. This is his first stunt outside the United States. In May 2002, he stood atop a 24-meter high flagpole, also in New York, for 35 hours without a safety net. In November 2000, Blaine encased himself in a six-ton block of ice in New York City's Times Square for 58 hours.
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