Ex-Iron Maiden Singer Paul Di’Anno Says Sepsis ‘Almost Killed’ Him in 2015
On the "Još Jedan" podcast, former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno recollected his 2015 bout with sepsis (which he said "almost killed" him) and spoke about other health issues, his desire to eventually return to the stage and more.
Di'Anno has been battling knee ailments for years and is currently in Zagreb, Croatia receiving lymphatic drainage treatments after a photo was shared last year of his knee having swollen to an enormous and concerning size. He admitted life is "getting better" and that there is still a lot of work ahead. "I was just dumped in a wheelchair [and told to] sit there until you die or we can get some treatment to you," the singer lamented (transcription via Blabbermouth) before taking aim at NHS (National Health Service), the publicly funded healthcare system in England.
"Fucking NHS sucks. I was a defender of them big time," Di'Anno continued, "But the nurses are awesome and all the workers. It's the fucking bureaucracy bullshit — the management and the people who run the NHS are just total assholes. But the poor heroes — the nurses and the staff — they're great, but their hands are tied. So they didn't know what to do. They just dumped me."
Podcast host Vlaho Bogoje recalled previous infections Di'Anno had suffered, which prompted the singer, who appeared on Iron Maiden's first two full length releases, to detail his near-death experience.
"I caught sepsis in 2015 and it almost killed me. 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," Di'Anno explained.
The Mayo Clinic defines sepsis as "a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when the body's response to an infection damages its own tissues" and that "when the infection-fighting processes turn on the body, they cause organs to function poorly and abnormally."
After eight months in hospital care followed by an additional three months in a "care home," Di'Anno caught MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) twice, which the Mayo Clinic describes as "caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections."
"So it kept delaying things and delaying things… And then they took this knee out, put this cement thing in and it was only supposed to be in there for a year," the singer added, turning his focus back to his knee. "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. So, what the fuck are they doing over there at the NHS?"
Doing "better" now, as he said at the top of the podcast, Di'Anno is staring down a May concert in Croatia, which will mark his first show since 2016. "It's the day before an Iron Maiden show," he said of the upcoming free gig with a Norwegian backing band. "It's just to say thank you."
Back in 2016, Di'Anno was forced to cancel a Brazilian tour after it was discovered that he had a non-malignant abscess on his lungs, which was surgically removed.