Molly Meldrum dodged being paralysed by just six millimetres, but has returned to hospital

ROCK guru Molly Meldrum is back in hospital after complications arising from his nasty fall in Bangkok, which turned out to be more dangerous than initially thought.

Cats premiere and red carpet. Molly Meldrum. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

MOLLY Meldrum’s doctors feared he would never walk again after his accident in Thailand last week.

However the TV icon has luckily avoided having serious spinal surgery.

An MRI showed Meldrum had dislodged a vertebrae in his spine and was just six millimeters away from being paralysed from the waist down.

Channel 7’s Nick McCallum was flown to Bangkok where he pushed Meldrum in a wheelchair to the area where he dodged a tuk tuk and fell into the footpath.

7 News at 6pm: Molly Meldrum speaks exclusively to @nickmccallum7 in Bankgkok. https://t.co/6rm43QpgOj #7Newshttps://t.co/W80rkrR05k

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) January 31, 2016

Meldrum said he staggered up the stairs of his hotel where he collapsed in a corridor and was taken to a Bangkok’s BNH hospital.

The initial diagnosis was immediate emergency surgery to repair the crushed part of the spine.

“They said if I don’t do it it could dislodge it (the vertebrae) and paralyse both legs,” Meldrum told Channel 7 news.

“It’s a lot more serious than what we first thought and much more serious than Molly first thought as well,” McCallum earlier told 3AW of Meldrum’s injuries.

McCallum said there were “lingering” mental effects from Meldrum’s near-death fall from his roof in 2011.

“There are some obviously deep mental scars from what happened to him in 2011 when he fell off his roof and was in a coma for five weeks,” McCallum said. “He had real problems going back to hospital.”

Molly Meldrum and actor Samuel Johnson promoting the new miniseries Molly. Picture. Andrew Tauber

However over the weekend physio and rest saw his spine realign and now surgery is not necessary.

While Meldrum celebrated his 73rd birthday on Friday and spent the weekend in a Bangkok hotel surrounded by friends, he returned to hospital yesterday.

The TV icon was hospitalised after intense nerve pain shooting up and down in his right arm and was monitored by his doctors.

Meldrum told McCallum he hates being in hospitals after the 2011 roof fall that saw him close to death and in an induced coma for five weeks.

“I get very stressed, I worry about my friends worrying about me,” Meldrum said.

The Countdown host has been recuperating in his Bangkok hotel with medical staff on call.

Despite rumours Meldrum was being sent back to Australia via Medivac for possible surgery he remains in Thailand where his progress is being monitored.

Channel 7 will screen the heavily-promoted Molly mini-series this Sunday night, with Samuel Johnson in the lead role.

After Channel 7 also began heavily-promoting their interview social media saw the network slammed for using the accident as another advertising tool for the mini-series.

Originally published as Molly Meldrum dodged being paralysed by just six millimetres, but has returned to hospital