I got through 18 wars, then I trip up at a train station...
Veteran reporter’s facial surgery
SURGEON Martin Bell with Helen Witherow at hospital AS a TV journalist, he survived covering 18 wars in some of the most dangerous conflicts on the planet.
But Martin Bell suffered his most horrific injuries when he tripped over his own suitcases at an airport railway station.
These shocking pictures show the impact of his fall. Mr Bell, now 80, later joked that he looked like “Dracula’s grandfather”.
The former BBC reporter and independent MP has had his face rebuilt by surgeons. He fractured his right maxilla bone, right and left eye sockets, nose and an area at the base of his skull.
He said: “I have come through 18 wars almost unscathed and I trip up at a railway station. I have Martin Bell in hospital and, right, his scan
no one else to blame for this. I feel a complete idiot.”
It happened in November at Gatwick Airport, in West Sussex, after he returned from a cruise.
He had to have two-and-a-half hours of reconstructive surgery at St George’s Hospital, in Tooting, South London. Surgeon Helen Witherow said: “I have never seen anyone sustain these After his fall type of fractures. This is a highimpact car injury-type fracture.”
Four surgical plates and 16 screws were used to re-attach his upper mouth to his jawbone.
Mr Bell said he “wanted to sing the praises” of the NHS staff. “I was not a pretty sight,” he said. “I looked like Dracula’s grandfather.”