Elton John.Photo: Stephane Cardinale /Corbis/Corbis/Getty
SirElton Johndrops a number of bombshells in his forthcoming autobiography,Me.
Among the many shocking revelations, the legendary musician, 72, opens up about how close he came to death after contracting a massive infection following a 2017 surgery for prostate cancer.
In the book,which wasexcerpted in theDaily Mail, he remembers praying, “Please don’t let me die — please let me see my kids again.”
But soon after he was admitted, John recalls, “I was told that my condition was so serious, the hospital didn’t have the equipment to cope with it.”
After being moved to a different facility, John had another surgery to have lymphatic fluid drained, and he spent the next two days in intensive care, according to theDaily Mailexcerpt.
“When I came round, they told me I’d contracted a major infection in South America,” John writes. It was far more serious than doctors first suspected — he says doctors informed his husband, David Furnish, that the performer was “24 hours away from death” and would have died if he hadn’t been treated when he did.
After 11 days in the hospital, John was finally sent home to rejoin his husband and their two kids, Elijah and Zachary. The musician spent the next seven weeks “recuperating” and “learning to walk again.”
John acknowledges that he was “incredibly lucky” to survive his health crisis, but writes that he “didn’t feel terribly lucky at the time” due to the incessant worrying and “wondering if I was going to die.”
“In the hospital, alone at the dead of night, I’d prayed: Please don’t let me die, please let me see my kids again, please give me a little longer,” he says.
However, he shares that the health scare helped him realize he was ready to retire from touring (he’s currently on his Farewell tour) and spend the bulk of his time with his family.
“It was like being shown a different life, a life I realized I loved more than being on the road,” he writes. “Music was the most wonderful thing, but it still didn’t sound as good as Zachary chattering about what had happened at Cubs or football practice.”
John’sofficial autobiography,Me, will be released in the U.S. on Oct. 15.
source: people.com
