Pair speeds to Ian Molly Meldrum's side

Michael Gudinski poses in the awards room. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images Source: Getty Images

The Herald Sun reports

After accepting the Logies Hall of Fame award for Molly Meldrum, Dannii Minogue and Michael Gudinski left Crown to be by the music guru's side.

Minogue and Gudinski made a mad dash after the live Hall of Fame proceedings at Crown to watch the delayed telecast with their longtime friend at his Richmond home.

They also wanted to hand-deliver the Hall of Fame award, which Gudinski said Meldrum was very proud to receive.

Wearing a St Kilda Football Club scarf in the media room after the moving tribute, Gudinski was devastated he forgot to give thanks to Meldrum's brother, Brian, and assistant Yael Cohn, who had helped Meldrum recover after a life-threatening fall in December.

"In the heat of the moment, I didn't say it but his brother has been unbelievable, and his assistant and all the doctors and nurses," Gudinski said.

"The fact that he is still around after what he went through is incredible and his wit is right there.

"He just wants to get right back into it and I think in the next few weeks, few months, he will.

"I don't think it will be that long."

Gudinski later returned to join in the celebrations at the Channel 9 after-party.

Loyal assistant reveals Molly Meldrum's daily fight to recover

Yael Cohn with Molly Meldrum before his accident. Picture: Tim Carrafa Source: Herald Sun

Cameron Adams, The Herald Sun, reports

Molly Meldrum is getting back on his feet and back to his cheeky old self.

But the music guru is trapped in a dream-like state for now and cannot remember the fall that nearly claimed his life.

Assistant Yael Cohn said he had post-traumatic amnesia, but doctors were confident he would make a full recovery.

Ms Cohn, who visits the much-loved Melbourne identity every day, said Molly's long-term memory was intact, but he has no short-term memory after falling from the roof of his Richmond home before Christmas and suffering serious head injuries.

"I feel really positive he will be well again," Ms Cohn said. "I see the cheeky person that he is slowly coming back and he'll definitely be back to tell us all what to do soon. People might think with a brain injury he's slurring or not speaking properly. He's talking like Molly would talk. Which wasn't always the clearest, but that's the Molly talk."

Ms Cohn said Meldrum has started taking brief walks around the Epworth rehab centre in Richmond.

His neck brace has been removed and he is recovering well from a broken collarbone, shattered shoulder blade, fractured vertebrae and broken ribs.

She said Molly talked in his dream-like state and showed familiar personality traits.

"He remembers his family and friends. But I might have just visited him, a nurse will walk in after me and say, 'Has anyone seen you today?' and he'll say 'No'. His short-term memory has gone."

Ms Cohn said she had passed on the public's well wishes to Meldrum. And Prof John Olver, medical director at Epworth Rehabilitation, said Meldrum was improving each day.

"He's more alert and engaging and more orientated now than he was two weeks ago. And so we're seeing a progression and that's really what we want to see," he said.

Ms Cohn and Molly's brother Brian will appear on Seven's Sunday Night tomorrow.

"The family felt an obligation to tell this story to put people at ease," Cohn said. "It has affected people in a profound way."

Molly Meldrum's Alfred Hospital team optimistic star will pull through

Michaela Boland, The Australian, reports

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.