Former Iron Maiden Singer Paul Di’Anno: Sepsis ‘Almost Killed Me’
Former Iron Maiden frontman Paul Di’Anno revealed that he nearly died several years ago due to a battle with sepsis.
"I caught sepsis in 2015, and it almost killed me," he explained during an appearance on the Još Jedan podcast (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). "And I spent eight months in a hospital in England. You've got a crucial 45 minutes to get as many antibiotics in you before you die, and they managed to do that, which was great.”
Despite making it through those trying early moments, Di’Anno’s health scare was far from over.
“Then I spent eight months in a hospital, and then another three months in a care home," he continued. "And while I was in there getting things done, other hospital visits, I caught MRSA [an antibiotic resistant staph infection] there twice, in the hospital.”
The infections caused Di’Anno to push back scheduled knee surgery. Even once he was healthy enough for the procedure, things didn’t go to plan.
“They took this knee out, put this cement thing in. And it was only supposed to be in there for a year," he explained. "And the first time they put that in, it broke, so they cut me open again and put another in. And that one is still in here. And while it's been in there this long, it's going toxic.”
The rocker has since begun lymphatic drainage treatments in Zagreb, Croatia in preparation for further procedures. He’s been confined to a wheelchair for roughly seven years and previously underwent surgery to remove “an abscess that was all infected and the size of a rugby ball.”
Di'Anno fronted Iron Maiden for the band’s first two albums -- their 1980 self-titled debut and 1981’s Killers. He was dismissed in September of ‘81 and replaced by Bruce Dickinson.