Former IRON MAIDEN Singer PAUL DI'ANNO To Undergo Long-Awaited Surgery In Early July

Former IRON MAIDEN frontman Paul Di'Anno, who has been receiving physiotherapy and lymphatic drainage treatments in Croatia, will finally undergo his long-awaited knee surgery in early July.

Earlier today (Saturday, June 18),Stjepan Juras, a MAIDEN fan and author of many MAIDEN-related books, who is taking care of Paul during his stay in Croatia, issued the following update regarding Paul's condition: "After a long and intensive recovery of Paul Di'Anno in Croatia, and a series of treatments he underwent, the moment of great announcement has finally come. You already knew that Paul was facing three major operations, but now we finally know the dates. Paul Di'Anno will be admitted to the hospital on July 5, 2022, and all three surgeries will be performed on him for two consecutive days, after which the hospital recovery will take about two to three weeks. Hospital recovery and intensive care are followed by the second part of recovery, which is rehabilitation and re-learning of walking, which will be significantly improved in the first days of October, and by the end of 2022 Paul should be able to walk fully.

"The first operation, or installation of the so-called umbrella in the vein cava will make a team of specialists and vascular surgeons and thus will prevent the movement of a large thrombus (blod-clot) in the abdomen and potential stroke or embolism. Operations of removing cement (spacer between bones) and installing so-called tumor prostheses or custom made bone and knee will be performed by an expert from the 'Heatlh Center of Excellence'; prof.dr.sc. Robert Kolundžić, orthopedic specialist, subspec traumatologist of the locomotor system. The operation will be performed at the Clinic for Traumatology of the KBC Sestre milosrdnice or (possibly) at the KBC Dubrava.

"Paul is very motivated and can't wait for the big and currently most important change in his life to happen. The doctor who will operate on him is one of the authorities not only in Croatia, but also in Europe, when we talk about surgery of this kind, and the operation that Paul will undergo is the most complicated and difficult of all orthopaedic surgeries.

"Although Paul will be cared for by a number of experts and the operations will be performed perfectly, Paul's biggest 'opponent' in everything is his own body or his circulation. Namely, the circulation in his leg is not at an enviable level and with all the efforts that have been made so far, it cannot be much better, but they will try hard. This is the biggest danger that threatens Paul and he is aware of it. An almost identical thing happened to him before, when his body rejected the endoprosthesis, but in this case it is much worse. If poor circulation suspends wound healing from surgery and if custom-made bone rejection occurs, this will be the end of treatment labeled Plan A. Plan B would then be a leg amputation, but that doesn't mean Paul wouldn't walk. Moreover, the recovery would be shorter, and Paul's movement better and more reliable. The only difference is that he would not have his own leg.

"Paul is aware of all the consequences and is ready for anything. He told us that he had thought about that option seven years earlier, but due to a double infection with MRSA, it was impossible to perform. Paul is ready for option A and option B, but we all hope that after the barochamber and additional lymphatic drainage at the Ribnjak Polyclinic, the circulation will be better and that Paul's leg will last and heal and that he will walk this year.

"Paul has important days of psychological preparations for the operation ahead of him and now he needs the understanding of all the fans and only peace."

Last month, Paul played his first full solo concert in seven years at the Bikers Beer Factory in Zagreb. The show was filmed and parts of it will be included in a documentary about Di'Anno, to be directed by Wes Orshoski, co-director and producer of the acclaimed 2010 film "Lemmy" about the MOTÖRHEAD icon.

The Zagreb concert was free to attend and was held as a way of thanking Paul's fans for their help during the most difficult time of his recovery. The show took place just a day before the IRON MAIDEN's gig at the Zagreb Arena.

Di'Anno recorded two classic albums with IRON MAIDEN — a self-titled effort in 1980 and "Killers" in 1981 — before being fired and replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He went on to front a number of other bands, including KILLERS and BATTLEZONE, and released several solo records.

Di'Anno recently teamed up with several Croatian musicians to form a new project called WARHORSE. WARHORSE entered the studio to record three songs, two of which — "Stop The War" and "The Doubt Within" — have been released as a special limited-edition DVD single.

A fundraiser for Paul's upcoming surgery has been organized by his friends and fans coordinated by Kastro Pergjoni from the U.K. and Stjepan Juras from Croatia, in collaboration with the other members of WARHORSE. All proceeds from the single will be used to cover the costs of Paul's treatment and related needs.

In February, Di'Anno told the "Još Jedan" podcast that his health was "better" than it was just a couple of months earlier but noted that he still "a lot of work to do — a lot of physio and stuff like that."

Paul went on to blast the U.K.'s free-at-the-point-of-use National Health Service (NHS),saying: "Fucking NHS sucks. I was a defender of them big time. 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."

Di'Anno, who turned 64 on May 17, outlined some of the recent health issues he has battled that have kept him from performing for seven years.

"I caught sepsis [when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body] in 2015, and it almost killed me," he said. "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. Then I spent eight months in a hospital, and then another three months in a care home. And while I was in there getting things done, on hospital visits, I caught MRSA [Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an infection caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections] there twice, in the hospital. So that was it. 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. 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?"

Di'Anno reportedly underwent an operation in 2016 to remove a "rugby ball-sized abscess" on his lungs and required a knee-replacement operation on both knees after getting involved in several motorcycle accidents over the years.