In a recent interview with Stonedead Festival, former Iron Maiden frontman Paul Di’Anno gave an update on his treatment progress, two years after his major knee surgery in Croatia. Although his health seems to be improving, the rocker blasted National Health Service.
“It’s improving a hell of a lot. The only problem is, and I’m sad to say, with my own country, it’s a piece of shit over here [in the United Kingdom] for the NHS [National Health Service]. It’s broken completely,” the rocker revealed.” I go away, I get — with the lymphedema [a chronic condition that causes swelling in the body’s tissues due to a compromised lymphatic system] thing I’ve got here, it’s like it’s all full of fluid. Two hours with a medical staff over in Croatia, it’s gone down.”
“Come over here [back to the U.K.], they don’t even do that, lymphatic drainage [a gentle massage that targets the lymphatic system, which resides just beneath the skin],” he added. “Or they wrap you up in bandages. We just took them all off yesterday and put compression stockings on them. And they won’t even put that on unless you go through all these channels. F*ckin’ England, you’re finished, mate.”
Di’Anno underwent the knee surgery in September 2022. The surgery came after months of medical treatment and is part of a long series of operations and health struggles he has faced over the years. Fans had raised over £11,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to help cover his medical expenses.
The rocker was asked if it was true that his former Iron Maiden bandmates helped him with the remaining costs of his operations and treatment. “The last part of it they did, ’cause I ran of money,” he revealed. “It’s been very expensive. ‘Cause when I first got sick, I had to get medevaced from Argentina, which cost me a lot of money, ’cause I had to [be transported] in a private medical plane and all that stuff back.”
“When I arrived in England, I only had 45 minutes to live, with sepsis and that. So they pumped me full of antibiotics. I spent eight months in hospital. So the last bit of the treatment, the band was really cool — they paid for the last couple of months’ worth of treatments, which was good. I’ll be forever grateful for that,” he added.
In December 2022, Di’Anno spent time in Split, Croatia, recording an album with his new project, Warhorse. He formed the band earlier that year with guitarists and authors Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante ‘Pupi’ Pupačić. The album was released in July 2024 under the name Paul Di’anno’s Warhorse.