Paul Di'Anno , former vocalist of Iron Maiden , has been suffering from health problems for some years. In 2021, a photo worried fans worldwide, showing the current state of the singer's knees. But what happened to cause Di'Anno to reach this condition?
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the British singer's health. At 63 years old, the vocalist has been in a wheelchair for over six years and needs surgery on both legs to begin the long journey of rehabilitation.
Originally, the operation was supposed to take place in June 2015, when Di'Anno reported that he had been experiencing pain since 2008, but the procedure was not possible. “All the ligament [in my knee] is gone and now it’s basically bone rubbing against bone. And, my God, some days are so painful, it’s unbelievable. And, through my mother, I also got osteoporosis,” he told the Talking Metal podcast (via Blabbermouth) that year.
The surgery did not take place because the singer developed sepsis during a trip to Argentina back in 2015. This is "a complex and potentially serious disease," as explained on Drauzio Varella , caused by severe infections, and directly influences the possibility of surgery on the singer's knees.
“Because of sepsis, I get a lot of infections, so they can’t do the operations on my legs when they want to. And it’s been very difficult. Right now, I only have one knee. The other knee was removed, but no new knee was put in, so [they put in] a cement thing,” she told the Mariskal Rock in 2019 (via Blabbermouth ).
In a new interview with the Još Jedan podcast (via Blabbermouth ), given in February 2022, Di'Anno gave more details about the health complications caused by this condition. “I got sepsis in 2015 and it almost killed me. I spent eight months in a hospital in England. You have 45 crucial minutes to be treated with antibiotics before you die, they managed to do that,” he said. “So I spent eight months in the hospital, then another three months in a care home.”
With his prolonged stay in hospitals after nearly dying from sepsis, Di'Anno also contracted MRSA, a bacterium resistant to the antibiotic methicillin, linked to the widespread infections the musician has suffered over the past six years – a condition of pain and suffering that has remained unresolved for at least 13 years.
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Unfortunately, problems piled up, and the vocalist underwent surgery to remove an abscess "the size of a rugby ball" from his lung in 2016. Two years later, he canceled a tour in Brazil after being hospitalized in an emergency in 2018. At the time, there was a risk of amputating one of his legs, but that possibility was ruled out.
Without proper treatment, Paul Di'Anno "is only getting worse as time goes on," according to the person in charge of a fundraising campaign to pay for the artist's private surgery. The amount needed is £26,000 (approximately R$109,900 at the current exchange rate), and 58% of the goal has already been reached.
One common factor in all the information found about Paul Di'Anno's knees is motorcycles. According to Blabbermouth , the situation is the result of "several motorcycle accidents over the years".
This version is confirmed by the story that reached Brazilian Kadu Pelegrini , vocalist of Kiara Rocks , with whom Di'Anno performed at Rock In Rio 2013. “His knee was already messed up [at that time],” Pelegrini recounted in an interview on the Colisão . “I know there was a large motorcycle club here in Brazil that (…) they say, from what I've heard, the president of a motorcycle club said, 'You're going to ride my motorcycle because it's an honor for me.' It seems he got on the motorcycle and fell on his knee. The guy's giant motorcycle fell on his knee and that seems to have wrecked his knee, I don't know if it was already messed up or if it happened during that incident.”
According to Pelegrini's account, on more than one occasion he witnessed Di'Anno refusing help to climb stairs or move around. After the Rock In Rio show, he had difficulty getting into the van, but preferred to take much longer than to receive assistance. "He didn't want anyone to help him, man," Kadu recalled. "I think it got worse and he didn't take care of it."
Without the income from the catalog of Iron Maiden's early albums, which sold for the paltry sum of $50,000, Paul Di'Anno is facing financial difficulties and therefore depends on the success of fan-organized campaigns to afford knee surgery. "My plans are to have the surgery and, hopefully, go on tour and record an album," he told El País in March 2021.
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Start of treatment
In November 2021, Paul Di'Anno's long-awaited treatment began thanks to the singer's fans and friends, who managed to raise enough funds for the first surgery.
The following month, Di'Anno was already in physiotherapy and moved his left leg for the first time in "six or seven years," according to Kastro Pergjoni , operations director of the Cart and Horses pub, where Maiden reportedly gave some of their early performances. Watch the video here .
Shortly after, the singer was able to take a few steps, assisted by the professionals responsible for physiotherapy. Fundraising for surgeries and treatments for his right leg, as well as the continued recovery of his left leg, remains active, with more than 65% of the remaining amount needed already raised .
The Brazilian cover band Children of the Beast received a special thank you from Di'Anno for the project they carried out to help the campaign. “I want to say a huge thank you and I hope to see you all in Brazil next year. It’s very difficult, I don’t even know what to say, because I feel like crying all the time because you are wonderful,” said the former Maiden vocalist in a video .
READ ALSO: Paul Di'Anno thought Iron Maiden was "a joke" before joining the band.
