IAN "Molly" Meldrum definitely won't be flying to Thailand on Tuesday for his planned Christmas holiday in Phuket but the music veteran's family is hopeful he will recover from the head injuries he sustained in a fall.
His medical team at Melbourne's The Alfred Hospital is waiting for swelling on his brain to subside before they learn the full extent of injuries suffered by the music guru in a fall on Thursday.
Meldrum's manager and long-time friend Mark Klemens said only immediate family and close friends were permitted to visit the patient.
"He is still critical," Mr Klemens told AAP. "The night was uneventful. There was no deterioration."
He said doctors were more able to assess his broken ribs and punctured lung than the full damage of his fractured skull.
"We know the obvious...but it's a waiting game,'' Mr Klemens said. "The head fracture is a major indication. We would hope that doesn't get worse."
Meldrum has been fitted with a neck brace.
Mr Klemens said there was a great deal of swelling but no bleeding in the brain area. Meldrum was unconscious and "completely out of it".
"He might be able to recognise voices, but they (intensive care unit patients) never remember.
"It's horrible, it's very upsetting, but you have just got to be optimistic," he added.
He said Meldrum would be touched, amazed and humbled by the massive outpouring of support for him.
Mr Klemens said that, in all his years of being a media manager, he had never witnessed the outpouring of support that Meldrum had received since his hospitalisation on Thursday night.
David Bowie had even sent an email this morning, Mr Klemens said.
"I have never seen anything like this. We are getting emails and messages from all sorts of people around the world."
Brian Meldrum said yesterday he was devastated to learn the extent of his brother's injuries but had been heartened by messages of support from around the world. "Ian's rarely overwhelmed by anything - probably Prince Charles is the only person who ever overwhelmed him - but he'd be utterly overwhelmed by the amount of support that's come from all over the country and over the world from the top to the bottom," Mr Meldrum said.
Julia Gillard, Arts Minister Simon Crean, Boy George and Kylie Minogue were among those who tweeted messages of support, while others contacted Meldrum's family and friends.
Meldrum's shoulder, ribs and vertebrae were fractured and his lung punctured but Brian Meldrum said those injuries would not be treated until the head injuries were stabilised.
"With a fractured skull there is bruising to the brain that will probably get worse before it gets better so they need him under sedation until that happens," he said. "At the moment there's little steps forward but there's nothing to say things couldn't go backwards; he's not out of danger as far as his life goes."
Meldrum, 65, was installing Christmas decorations at his well known house in Richmond, in Melbourne's inner east, when his maintenance assistant, Joe, heard the fall. "How it actually happened we've got no idea," Brian Meldrum said.
At the time, Joe was speaking on the phone with Meldrum's long-time personal assistant, Yael Cohn, who immediately phoned for an ambulance, which arrived within minutes to find Meldrum unconscious.
Brian Meldrum said his brother's doctor had said the music veteran's strong health would aid his chances of recovery. "Anyone who's been in the entertainment industry for 60 years is obviously a pretty tough person. He'll fight this with every breath of his body," he said.
Meldrum found national fame in the 1970s when for 13 years until 1987 he was the face of ABC TV's weekly music show Countdown.
In his combined on-air and talent-producing role he became the most influential person in Australian music. Regular Records founder Martin Fabinyi said: "All you cared about more than anything else in the world was getting on Countdown."
During the peak of Hey Hey It's Saturday's popularity, Meldrum hosted the Molly's Melodrama segment and for the past eight years he has been the resident music guru for the Seven Network's Sunrise and Sunday Night programs.
No comments:
Post a Comment