BBC snooker presenter Seema Jaswal fell into a coma with health condition as parents left 'petrified'

The host is fronting the BBC's coverage of the snooker World Championships

Seema Jaswal has been a regular fixture on our screens for more than a decade, fronting coverage for football, cricket, darts and snooker.

The 40-year-old is currently the face of the BBC's coverage of the World Championships, providing snooker fans with everything they need to know at the Crucible alongside a star-studded panel of former players.

Born in Richmond to parents who fled Uganda and made the UK their home, Jaswal's journey to stardom began with her first TV gig on CBBC's Sports Round and Match of the Day Kickabout.

Ever since, she has become a familiar face across various sports. Here, WalesOnline takes a look at her life and career to date.

Husband and family life

Jaswal's family life has generally been kept away from the public eye.

She has been married to Ajay, 46, who works in property, for 14 years and two years ago the pair welcomed their daughter, Ava Lily into the world.

Speaking about the experience in an interview with Hello! back in 2023, Jaswal said: "I'll never forget the surgeon saying, 'Wow, look at her lashes – I've never seen anything like it!'

"She has her dad's lashes, and my hands and feet. The moment she was placed in my arms, I was still lying on the bed with the surgeons stitching me up. I could have been there for hours and wouldn't have noticed. I've never felt anything like it – it was instant love, an instant connection. I don't think anyone can prepare you for that moment, the rush of love you feel. It's just, 'Wow'."

She added: "I'm cherry-picking what I do and don't want to do, but my number one priority is Bubba and being with her. Now I have my own little girl, I want to encourage her to dream big, be fearless and make her life the best adventure."

Meningitis diagnosis

Away from the TV screens, Jaswal is an ambassador for meningitis, raising awareness about the condition after her own ordeal with it as a teenager.

When she was just 16, she came home from a cafe she was working at with a bad headache, which she thought was just a cold, before she took herself to bed.

What followed was a horrendous ordeal which resulted in her entering a coma, leaving her parents terrified after she was taken into a hospital.

Speaking about her experience with the condition, she said: "I went to bed and when my mum came into my room to check on me, she turned on the light and I said, “Oh mum, can you please turn that light off? It’s really bright.” And that was the first time I think the alarm bells rang for my mum.

"Throughout the course of the night, I got progressively worse. My mum called the doctor, who came over and suggested that I had a bad cold. He gave us paracetamol which I took, and then after he’d left, I threw it up. I then fell into a bit of a state where I don’t even remember what was going on.

"Fortunately, my mum had a book about health and illnesses. She recognised straight away that these signs were looking very much like meningitis, particularly because of the issue with light and the headache – these are two big symptoms.

"By this point, I wasn’t really responding, and my mum was very worried. She called an ambulance, and the paramedics came to pick me up from my room - I don’t remember anything after that. My mum told me that they had to drag me to the ambulance, suspecting that I had been out partying and taking drugs, which wasn’t the case.

"I was taken to hospital, by which point I’d fallen into a coma. As you can imagine, my mum and dad were petrified. A few hours later, I woke up during a lumbar puncture. This is a process that involves draining fluid from the spine and from that, we came to know that I had bacterial meningitis, but it was actually my mum that spotted it first. She just knew something wasn’t right. I’m so glad, and very grateful, that she was able to make that call and relayed her suspicions to the paramedics."

Jaswal remained in hospital recovering for 10 days before she was discharged. She was due to sit her AS levels that year but was unable to do so, instead she crammed both her AS and A levels into the following year.

She said that she now feels grateful for getting away "unscathed" with no lasting effects. "Especially as, with meningitis B, quite often you don’t get out of it lightly," she added.

Apology note to dad

Jaswal's dream of working on the Champions League materialised at the outset of the 2021/22 season when BT Sport, now rebranded as TNT Sports, brought her on board.

Yet the major career leap meant ending a cherished tradition of sharing European football match evenings with her dad and husband Ajay, with whom she's been for nearly 14 years.

Reflecting nostalgically on her family match viewings, Jaswal shared: "The Champions League was definitely one on the tick-list. I always loved watching it as a fan with my husband, my father, and a takeaway, but little did I know that three would soon become two.

"We actually bought my dad a TV recently, and I left a post-it note that read, 'Sorry I won't be with you this season, but at least you'll be able to watch me on the telly.' It was a lovely and very surreal moment."

Emotional live TV first

Earlier in the tournament, Jaswal hit the headlines for sharing an emotional moment with John Higgins, consoling the former world champion by hugging him, something she said she had never done on live TV before.

The Scottish snooker player had managed to overcome Joe O'Connor with a 10-7 victory after an uncertain start, amidst personal turmoil that had cast doubt over his appearance at the Crucible. Higgins had skipped the media day on the Thursday and missed out on the pre-tournament festivities, including the Champions Dinner and Green Carpet Ceremony, opting to stay in Scotland with his wife Denise during a distressing period for their family.

Reflecting on the match, Higgins said: "That was a tough game," acknowledging O'Connor's strong performance in the first session but expressing relief at ending it only slightly behind at 5-4. He noted an improvement in the evening's play.

Overcome with emotion, Higgins broke down live on air and was comforted by BBC host Jaswal with a supportive embrace.

In a heartfelt admission, Higgins revealed, "That was the most emotional I have ever been today. I left my wife and I was in tears. Obviously my father-in-law wasn't great. I was sitting having dinner with my boy last night and I was thinking about sitting here with my dad 25 years ago. I was drained today."

Speaking about the touching moment to the Daily Mail, she said: "I have worked in snooker for nine years now and we are like one big family. That is why I love it so much.

"We are all quite close to the players and their families, and we have relationships with them outside of tournaments.

"When they build up that level of trust with you, that’s when they feel they can be vulnerable. I think that is maybe why John felt he could be emotional with us.

"With someone like John, whose kids and family I have met, I am never going to let him sit there and cry without standing up and giving him a hug, whether I am on live TV or not.

"I can’t remember if I have hugged someone on live TV before, but I don’t think anybody has broken down in that way before with me.

"I have really appreciated the outpouring of love that I have had, but all the credit must go to John for being able to talk so openly about his emotions with us."