Lowy reveals hospital trauma after A- League fall

WESTFIELD chairman Frank Lowy has revealed how shocked he was to wind up in a French hospital emergency room weeks after his dramatic fall from a stage at the A- League grand final.

Mr Lowy, who is also chairman of Football Federation Australia, shocked Melbourne’s AAMI Park almost into silence in May when he slipped and fell heavily from the awards podium, but was cheered when he rose to his feet and carried on. At his first public ap- pearance since the incident, Mr Lowy described how he was traumatised six weeks later when tests at a French hospital meant he needed urgent surgery.

“I was in France and I had shown some hesitancy – my left hand was a little bit difficult to handle and so was my left foot and then I was urged to go to the hospital,” Mr Lowy said at the launch of a his new biography at the Art Gallery of NSW yesterday.

The 84- year- old said he was reluctant to go to the emergency ward of a foreign hospital but tests revealed a blood clot in his brain that had to be operated on before he could fly home.

“It was a big drama for me and very complicated to be in a hospital where the nurses don’t speak English and I don’t speak French,” he said.

“It was very dramatic and very traumatic for me because I didn’t expect it.”

Mr Lowy made a full recovery and yesterday watched as his friend of 40 years, former Prime Minister John Howard, launched the new biography.

The book, A Second Life, is the second about Mr Lowy by journalist Jill Margo and covers the 15 years since her first effort.

Mr Howard said the book would bring the actions of “a remarkable Australian” to people not familiar with his life’s work.

“You had almost a feeling of challenged exhaustion when you realise that at the age of 70 he embarked upon yet another career and conquered new challenges,” Mr Howard said.