Thomas Markle Jr says father's leg amputated in 'life or death' surgery
Meghan Markle’s father has undergone lifesaving surgery to amputate his leg after a sudden medical crisis left his foot turning black, his son has revealed.
Meghan Markle’s dad Thomas has undergone lifesaving surgery to amputate his leg, his son has revealed.
Thomas Markle, 81, was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery after suddenly falling ill at his home in the Philippines on Tuesday local time, according to the Daily Mail.
Following a three-hour surgery, Thomas was reportedly placed into intensive care as doctors waited to prepare him for another operation to remove a blood clot.
But he has now had lifesaving surgery to amputate his left leg below the knee after his foot turned black, according to the Mail.
His son, Thomas Jr, told the outlet: “There was no option. I was told the leg had to be removed and it was a case of life or death.
“My dad is being very brave. His foot turned blue and then black. It happened very quickly.
“I took him to a local hospital and they did some scans and an ultrasound and said the leg had to be amputated.”
The news creates a jarring contrast as Meghan Meghan released a new range of chocolates, laced with her signature raspberry jam and flower sprinkles.
The Duchess of Sussex collaborated on the sweet treats with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartes and they sell for $A18 per bar through her lifestyle brand As ever.
Fans of the California-based royal can choose from milk chocolate with shortbread cookies and bee pollen, white chocolate with flower sprinkles and hemp hearts or dark chocolate with raspberry spread and sea salt.
To illustrate the handmade nature of the confectionary, Meghan took to the kitchen at Compartes and filmed a video of herself helping pour the moulds of chocolate.
“I took dad to a hospital close to our home and they did various scans and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger,” Thomas Markle Jr previously told the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
“They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the centre of the city.
“My dad has undergone emergency surgery,” he continued. “I would ask everyone around the world to keep him in their thoughts. My only wish is that Meghan shows my father some compassion. He is literally fighting for his life.”
Thomas Jr., 59, added that he expects his did to be in the hospital for “a long time” and that it will be a “gruelling” recovery.
Thomas’ daughter, meanwhile, said that she is praying for her ailing father.
“He is a strong man, but he has been through so much,” Samantha Markle, 61, told the outlet. “I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this.”
“My father has been through two heart attacks, a stroke and an earthquake,” she added. “I hope he can pull through this.”
The Post has reached out to Meghan’s rep for comment.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged dad suffered a startling health scare.
In May 2018, on the eve of Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding ceremony, he suffered two heart attacks that prevented him from travelling from Los Angeles to London to walk his daughter down the aisle.
The pair have been estranged ever since.
“We were always so close,” Thomas, who split from Meghan’s mother Doria when Meghan was 3, told Daily Mail in 2018. “Being shut out of her life is the biggest tragedy of my life.”
“I don’t understand what I did so wrong that she never talked to me again,” he added. “I have been upset at my daughter, I have been angry at her at times – but I have never stopped loving her.”
Thomas later suffered a massive stroke in 2022 that left him unable to speak, and he reportedly survived a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in the Philippines earlier this year.
“My father is stuck on the 19th floor of a building in the Philippines after a massive earthquake and he can’t walk and he is trapped,” Samantha wrote on X at the time, although Thomas spoke out to say that he was “fine.”
As for the “Suits” alum, she released her “With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration” Netflix special on the same day it was announced that her father had been hospitalised. “I would ask Meg, on a week when she has released a TV show talking about the power of love and family, to reach out to our dad,” Thomas Jr. concluded. “She needs to start showing the compassion she preaches about.”
MEGHAN’S SURPRISE FOR HARRY
Meghan Markle, in a holiday special episode of her much derided cookery show With Love, Meghan, tried to introduce the humble Christmas cracker to the American public.
Explaining the humble cracker to restaurateur Will Guidara, she said: “I really started to know them, they almost have a fortune cookie size joke or riddle and something sweet.”
Having discovered the British festival favourite after “living in the UK”, she placed a lavender roller ball into a cracker she was making for her daughter Lili, “a little love letter, chocolate and a little hat” for husband Prince Harry, and filled son Archie’s with “burgers and colour red”.
Meghan also made a handmade advent calendar for her children, complete with personal notes.
Meghan also hosted an all-girl pyjama party in her Netflix special, appearing in her kitchen wearing red pyjamas and explaining it was a tradition of her pal Lindsay Jill Roth.
Tennis ace Naomi Osaka also popped round to see Meghan and the pair painted plates and mugs.
Harry finally made an appearance after Tom Collichio, star of Top Chef on US telly, made a salad and helped Meghan whip up her mum Doria’s Christmas Eve gumbo recipe.
The host explained her husband would not like Tom’s famous salad as he hated the main ingredients, such as beetroot, fennel, black olives and pickled vegetables.
“He hates all these flavours.”
But after getting a kiss from his wife, Harry says: “Hi guys, I smell gumbo.”
Meghan then tells Harry she’s used a spicier sausage to make the gumbo than he’d be used to.
After Harry tastes the dish – which he says is one of his favourites – he hits back with “I’m not sure it’s as good as your mum’s”.
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Originally published as Thomas Markle Jr says father's leg amputated in 'life or death' surgery
Meghan ‘reaches out’ to estranged dad
