Paul Young, 69, in NINE-HOUR intensive care wait after horror holiday accident prompted singer’s hospital dash
Eighties singer Paul Young suffered a horrific accident in Santorini last September that left him with multiple leg fractures.
The 69-year-old fell down a flight of stairs while on holiday with his wife Lorna.
Young told The Mirror he had been walking to breakfast at his hotel when his leg “slipped out from underneath me”.
“I fell and my leg cracked as soon as I hit the step,” he explained. Without a handrail to grab, Young tumbled down three or four steps.
“Once I’d gone down, I couldn’t stop. There was nothing to hold on to. I just thought, ‘I’ve lost control,'” he recalled. The fall caused multiple fractures to his leg “again and again”.
When he finally came to a stop, Young noticed his leg was in “a slightly weird position” underneath him.
“I thought, ‘I don’t like that. My leg shouldn’t be like that’, so I tried to straighten it up and that’s when the pain started,” Young said.
His wife Lorna, 53, sought help and the musician was rushed to hospital. The injuries were so severe there was a “danger of the leg snapping”.
Young endured a nine-hour wait on a gurney in the hospital corridor due to a lack of surgeons. During this time, he was trying to organise a private flight to Athens.
“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,” he added.
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The singer described the pain as “tremendous”.
After surgery, Young spent two days in intensive care due to haemorrhaging.
He required three emergency blood transfusions to replace the lost blood.
Young then had to undergo a second 10-hour operation as part of his treatment.
Nearly six months after the accident, the singer is making significant progress in his recovery. He is no longer using crutches to get around.
Young is currently undergoing physiotherapy and hydrotherapy to help rebuild strength in his injured leg. The rehabilitation process has been steady since the September 2024 accident.
The singer, best known for hits including Love of the Common People and Wherever I Lay My Hat, has been focused on his recovery.
Young married his wife Lorna in October 2023, six years after his previous wife Stacey Smith died of brain cancer at 52 years old.
The couple were together when the accident occurred, with Lorna helping to get medical assistance.
Despite his ordeal, Young is now preparing for his forthcoming national tour. The singer told The Mirror he is “fighting fit and ready” to perform.
Young’s recovery has progressed well enough that he no longer requires crutches.
The 69-year-old has been a fixture in British music since the 1980s. He first found fame as the frontman of bands including Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband, and Q Tips before launching a successful solo career.
Young’s hit singles include Love of the Common People and Wherever I Lay My Hat. He won a Brit Award for Best British Male in 1985.
The singer has continued performing in recent years, including with his band Los Pacaminos, which he formed in 1993.
Young’s upcoming tour will mark his return to the stage following his recovery.