AFL legend Dane Swan’s partner ‘thought he was dead’ after scary illness in Mexico

2011 Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan has opened up on a scary illness during his three month US trip that left his partner terrified.

AFL legend Dane Swan has returned from his three month trip to the US but revealed he was left so ill on a trip to Mexico, his partner “thought I was dead”.

The 37-year-old former star won a premiership with Collingwood in 2010 and Brownlow Medal in 2011 but retired in 2016 after a horror knee injury, ending his 258 game career.

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But Swan has continued to be around the game, including his annual takeover on Brownlow Medal night.

He revealed in November that he was going to move to the US to live for a few months but didn’t specify a return date.

The former footy superstar joined his partner Taylor Wilson and their son Tate after Wilson went over to the US to spend time with her family, who she hadn’t seen in two years due to the pandemic.

Swan said he was enjoying the high life but “it all came crashing down when I died that night,” he joked on his podcast Hump Day with Swanny and Friends.

He began his story saying: “I have to preface it by saying, I don’t vomit much but when I do … I actually had to ask the club doctor about it, I vomit that hard that the circulation gets cut off to my brain and I pass out and I hit the deck,’’ Swan said.

“You think I’m joking but it’s legitimate.

“We figured it out a while ago and now I have to lay on the floor when I spew and vomit. (My partner) Taylor was in tears, she thought I was dead.

“I legitimately had to ask the club doctor. It happened in Bali ages ago when I passed out at the toilet and smashed my face on the toilet bowl. It’s happened seven or eight times in my 10 years so I don’t spew much but when I do, it’s the end of me.”

Taylor Wilson and Dane Swan. Pictures: Instagram

He added that his partner had a friend who also has a similar ailment.

“This was a legit virus,” he said. “This wasn’t self-induced, this wasn’t Mad Monday stuff. It was a legit virus … but it wasn’t the Covid virus.”

Swan has been heavily critical on Victoria’s Covid-19 response but also encouraged his followers to get vaccinated in August because “I hate being stuck behind my front door being treated like a prisoner in the state I live in.”

Swan said the issue with being “wrapped in a nanny-country” is that his son got sick a few times and that his family “got sick pretty frequently”.

He said his son was sick and that appeared to have been passed on to him.

“We got back from Mexico and I was feeling alright, just the s***s and stuff like that, and then I woke up in the middle of the night and thought ‘f***, I’m not well here’. I have to vomit and get rid of this. You think this is funny — Taylor was in tears,” he said.

“I laid down, then I spewed and she reckons I went stiff and my eyes rolled in the back of my head for 20 seconds, I didn’t move and was convulsing and I wasn’t breathing so she thought I was dead. Then I woke up in sweats.”

Asked if there was anything on the other side, Swan quipped: “I thought if that’s the way I go, it’s pretty easy. I spewed and that was it so I wasn’t in pain. I just vomited so if that’s the way I go then I’ll be pretty happy with that.”

Dane Swan with footy in hand. Photo: AAP Image/Michael Dodge

But Swan did recover in time to be in LA for the Super Bowl, although he didn’t go to the game.

It was over the weekend of his son’s first birthday, where he was with his mum Taylor in Florida.

While his co-hosts mocked his decision to skip his son’s first birthday, Swan revealed he went to mate’s party in the Hollywood Hills.

“I didn’t go to Super Bowl … I’m not Eddie McGuire, I don’t have ten hundreds of millions of dollars, and I don’t get a free ride like Thommo (Dale Thomas) for a company that’s not Sportsbet,’’ he said.

“My mates bought tickets and they were about $12,000 each. I’ve been before and I’ve been away on holidays for 3-4 months and probably gone over budget just a smidgen.

“It was Tate’s birthday, (thought) I’ll just go to a party, I went to a mate’s party in the Hollywood Hills.”

But upon his return, Swan said it was a nightmare to get back into Australia.

He tweeted on his way back into the country on earlier this week, writing: “Holy F***, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is try and re enter Australia. I reckon It’d be easier to visit old mate Kim. Mind blowing how ridiculous we have been as a country last couple years but Guess Ill save the rant for @swannyfriends next pod. It’s to long for here.

“But when a random airline worker just walks over and says ‘bet you guys are trying to go to Australia’, you know it’s f***ed up”.

However, he did add later: “Customs was actually quite easy and a breeze in Sydney but that’s where the zephyr ended. Sheesh. Anyway how good is it to be home. God bless Ameristralia.”

He said his arrival back in Australia was like “the Spanish Inquisition”.

He said it was a 90 minute wait at check in and said it was a “dog’s breakfast”.