Duncan James needs to have another operation on his spine.
The ‘Hollyoaks’ actor was rushed to theatre in June 2016 after vital fluid from his brain began pouring out of an old surgery wound and almost killed him but, although doctors managed to relieve the trapped nerve in his spine and get the leak under control, he was left with paralysis down his left side and needs more surgery to try to fix it.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "Unfortunately I suffered with a very bad back in 2016 and it’s still not right and once I’ve finished with ‘Hollyoaks’ I’m going to have to go and have some more surgery on it because it’s left me with a limp all down my left side. It’s quite complicated but it’s the nerve and the nerve got badly compressed by my disc and if the nerve gets damaged for more than 24 hours it dies and unfortunately I was at 36 before they operated so it’s slowly started to die.
"It’s been a year and a half now and it hasn’t woken up so I have a lot of problems with the way I walk. I really hope I get the feeling back. It was completely life-changing. I was catheterised for three weeks and I wasn’t able to pee by myself. It was really horrible. I’m a young guy, I’m fit and healthy and then one minute the life changes."
The 39-year-old singer was also told that there was a high chance that he would have to be catheterised for life because doctors didn’t know if his bladder would work.
He said: "They took the catheter out and you know the doctors said it’s a risk because you might not get that feeling back again.
"I might have to always have a bag and I was like: ‘Oh my God, please don’t tell me I’ll have to walk around with a piss bag attached to me.’ Of course it would’ve changed my sex life. I would have been devastated if it had."
Duncan James needs op on spine
