The Daily Mail reports a father-of-two today told how he almost died after eating an under-cooked pork chop.

Darren Ashall, a plant operator from Chorley, Lancashire, developed a potentially lethal brain bug that has left him in hospital for nearly five months.

The 46-year-old cannot walk and still struggles to communicate. However, doctors told him he is lucky to be alive after listeria meningitis attacked his immune system and left an abscess on his brain.

He first fell ill after cooking two pork chops on a caravan stove while working away from home in Birmingham.

“I thought one of the chops wasn’t cooked properly. I regretted eating it straight away. I knew it was a mistake. A month later I went to hospital thinking I was having a heart attack. After three days, my face started drooping on one side and people thought I was having a stroke.”

Darren had picked up the listeria bug, which can lay dormant for up to 70 days.