EIGHTIES star Paul Young has told of a horrific accident which left him with multiple leg fractures and in intensive care needing three emergency blood transfusions.
Less than 24 hours after arriving on the Greek island of Santorini for a holiday in September, the singer fell down a flight of outdoor hotel steps walking to breakfast.
Paul, 69, said: "It had been spitting with rain. When I got to the top of the steps, as soon as I put my foot on the first step, my leg slipped out from underneath me.
"I fell and my leg cracked as soon as I hit the step. Once I'd gone down, I couldn't stop.
"There was no handrail, so nothing to hold on to. I just thought, 'I've lost control'. I fell down three or four more steps, fracturing my leg again and again."
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742265282/articles/H6kfUEYo7FCuWlc3KDsys/5545216626.jpg]
When he came to a stop, he looked down to see his leg bent up underneath his bottom. He said: "I tried to straighten it up and that's when the pain started."
Paul's wife Lorna, 53, raised the alarm at the five-star De Sol Hotel & Spa reception, and he was rushed to Santorini General Hospital, where X-rays revealed a series of fractures to his left thigh bone.
He says: "All the multi-fractures were right at the top in the femur, by the ball joint so it was very worrying. The fractures were so close to each other, there was a danger of the leg snapping.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742265282/articles/H6kfUEYo7FCuWlc3KDsys/6645741166.jpg]
"The only medication they had was paracetamol. I was screaming out all the time and most of the time I had my eyes shut because the pain was terrible."
With no surgeons at Santorini hospital, Paul lay on a bed in the corridor for nine hours trying to arrange a private flight to Athens to get the care he needed.
The next morning, after making it to Mediterraneo hospital in the Greek capital, Paul had surgery to insert a metal rod into the centre of the femur, secured by surgical screws at the top and bottom.
He recalled coming to while on the operating table. He said: "I remember coming out of the anaesthetic thinking, 'I can feel this and it's painful'.
"I could hear lots of banging and drilling going on, but I couldn't get the words to say anything.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742265282/articles/H6kfUEYo7FCuWlc3KDsys/1666446461.jpg]
"I think the procedure was not as easy as they thought. They only had so much time. I think there's a point where they can't give you any more anaesthetic, so maybe they had to rush to finish the job."
Paul spent the next two days in intensive care, haemorrhaging and needing three blood transfusions.
He said: "For the first few days, there was so much blood loss, they were changing the sheets daily. I was semi-delirious a lot of the time because of the blood loss. It was a frightening time."
After a fortnight, Paul returned to the UK on a private plane and spent two days at the Cleveland Clinic in London, where he was given help to use crutches and climb stairs before home to Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
At the end of November, Paul faced a setback when a bolt at the bottom of his leg rod snapped.
He said: "The pain was tremendous. I'd just started to feel like I was getting better. He then went through another 10-hour operation.
Today, following months of physio, hydrotherapy, and resistance band exercises, Paul is now off the crutches.
Despite suffering loss of feeling in his left knee and being annoyed he cannot dance on stage, he can reflect on his ordeal with good hum...
Less than 24 hours after arriving on the Greek island of Santorini for a holiday in September, the singer fell down a flight of outdoor hotel steps walking to breakfast.
Paul, 69, said: "It had been spitting with rain. When I got to the top of the steps, as soon as I put my foot on the first step, my leg slipped out from underneath me.
"I fell and my leg cracked as soon as I hit the step. Once I'd gone down, I couldn't stop.
"There was no handrail, so nothing to hold on to. I just thought, 'I've lost control'. I fell down three or four more steps, fracturing my leg again and again."
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742265282/articles/H6kfUEYo7FCuWlc3KDsys/5545216626.jpg]
When he came to a stop, he looked down to see his leg bent up underneath his bottom. He said: "I tried to straighten it up and that's when the pain started."
Paul's wife Lorna, 53, raised the alarm at the five-star De Sol Hotel & Spa reception, and he was rushed to Santorini General Hospital, where X-rays revealed a series of fractures to his left thigh bone.
He says: "All the multi-fractures were right at the top in the femur, by the ball joint so it was very worrying. The fractures were so close to each other, there was a danger of the leg snapping.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742265282/articles/H6kfUEYo7FCuWlc3KDsys/6645741166.jpg]
"The only medication they had was paracetamol. I was screaming out all the time and most of the time I had my eyes shut because the pain was terrible."
With no surgeons at Santorini hospital, Paul lay on a bed in the corridor for nine hours trying to arrange a private flight to Athens to get the care he needed.
The next morning, after making it to Mediterraneo hospital in the Greek capital, Paul had surgery to insert a metal rod into the centre of the femur, secured by surgical screws at the top and bottom.
He recalled coming to while on the operating table. He said: "I remember coming out of the anaesthetic thinking, 'I can feel this and it's painful'.
"I could hear lots of banging and drilling going on, but I couldn't get the words to say anything.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1583517504/1742265282/articles/H6kfUEYo7FCuWlc3KDsys/1666446461.jpg]
"I think the procedure was not as easy as they thought. They only had so much time. I think there's a point where they can't give you any more anaesthetic, so maybe they had to rush to finish the job."
Paul spent the next two days in intensive care, haemorrhaging and needing three blood transfusions.
He said: "For the first few days, there was so much blood loss, they were changing the sheets daily. I was semi-delirious a lot of the time because of the blood loss. It was a frightening time."
After a fortnight, Paul returned to the UK on a private plane and spent two days at the Cleveland Clinic in London, where he was given help to use crutches and climb stairs before home to Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
At the end of November, Paul faced a setback when a bolt at the bottom of his leg rod snapped.
He said: "The pain was tremendous. I'd just started to feel like I was getting better. He then went through another 10-hour operation.
Today, following months of physio, hydrotherapy, and resistance band exercises, Paul is now off the crutches.
Despite suffering loss of feeling in his left knee and being annoyed he cannot dance on stage, he can reflect on his ordeal with good hum...
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Daily Record (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 18, 2025