In an interview with The Metal Voice, former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno revealed that he hasn’t walked for four years due to health problems.
in 2016 he underwent an operation to remove s a “rugby ball-sized abscess” on his lungs. He also needed a knee-replacement procedure on both knees after several motorcycle accidents he had in his life. That forced him to use a wheelchair and perform sitting down.
Paul Di’Anno said:
“I still got two knees to be done yet. I haven’t walked in four years, it’s ridiculous. They’ve got the cement in the right knee, left knee is coming up next.
“Unfortunately, my surgeon, he’s one of the best in the country, but it’s not like the hospital says, ‘Okay, you’re coming in for this operation at this date.’
“He’s the one who books you, not the hospital. He also takes care of a lot of our troops who come over with amputations and stuff like that.
“I’ve got to wait for him, and we’re hoping soon after New Year I’ll get the left knee done. Once that’s done, I’ll get up and learn to get up on crutches. That’s a start.”
It must be weird not walking for so long. Four years, right?
“The thing is, they won’t touch you for two years in any operations whatsoever just in case it all goes wrong and they don’t take the blame for anything.
“And then when I did go and have the right knee removed, I caught this thing called MRSA, which you get from hospitals. It’s all over the world, MRSA; I caught that twice.
“That delayed things a bit. It’s just a horrible situation. The left knee’s looking pretty good, the left leg’s looking alright, but the right one’s absolutely destroyed. It’s going to be a very complicated operation.”