Meghan’s dad Thomas Markle has leg amputated in life-saving op after foot turned black following hospital dash
Thomas has suffered with ill health, including a stroke in recent years
MEGHAN Markle’s dad Thomas has had life-saving surgery to amputate his leg after his foot turned black, his son said.
Thomas Markle, 81, was taken to hospital on Tuesday after falling ill at his home in the Philippines.
It is understood he underwent surgery on Wednesday and was transferred to the intensive care unit as doctors waited to prepare him for another operation to remove a blood clot.
But he has now had life-saving surgery to amputate his left leg below the knee, according to the Mail.
The news was announced by his son, Thomas Jr, who 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.”
Thomas Jr previously revealed how his dad’s life “was in imminent danger”.
He said: “They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the center of the city. My dad has undergone emergency surgery.
“I would ask everyone around the world to keep him in their thoughts.”
His son said he hoped Meghan, who released the Christmas special of her Netflix show earlier on Wednesday, shows her father “some compassion”.
“He is literally fighting for his life,” Thomas Jr added.
Meanwhile, daughter Samantha, 61, said: “He is a strong man, but he has been through so much. I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this.”
Thomas has suffered with ill health, including a stroke, in recent years and had been living in Mexico for the past 10 years before relocating to the Philippines in January.
He has been estranged from Meghan since her wedding to Prince Harry.
Thomas suffered two heart attacks on the eve of the big day in 2018 and was unable to walk his daughter down the aisle.
He has never met his grandchildren Archie and Lillibet and did not walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day, with the then Prince Charles instead doing the honours.
The estrangement came after he had posed for paparazzi pictures ahead of the wedding.
Meghan cut him off after he put the phone down during a heated row with Harry while recovering in hospital.
The duke told him he was in that position because he had not listened to their advice not to speak to the press – following the paparazzi scandal.
Thomas told The Sun On Sunday at the time: “I felt disrespected by them. I was recovering from a heart attack, lying in a bed, having a phone call, and the things were being said that hurt me.
“I felt like I was being blamed for my mistakes when I was in my hospital bed recovering from a heart attack.”
Concerns were also raised for 81-year-old Thomas just a few months ago when his daughter Samantha claimed he was stuck on the 19th floor of his Philippines flat after a deadly earthquake.
Meghan’s half-sister sparked alarm by posting online that their father was unable to walk and had been left stranded following the 6.9-magnitude quake.
Samantha Markle had written on X: “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.”
