Stephen Graham: Actor survives emergency surgery on the plane

Sometimes life writes the most incredible stories. What Stephen Graham experienced at a height of 10,000 meters sounds like a thriller – but is bitter reality. The British actor, known from the Netflix series “Adolescence”, had to undergo emergency operation during a transatlantic flight.

The 51-year-old now unpacked his traumatic flight experience. “It was damn scary,” Graham confesses to the US Talkmaster. Graham had previously had a catheter set – a medical intervention that many men aged 45 and over to resolve problems when urinating. “After three to four months, you should have to go to the toilet less often,” the actor explains the original intention.

But suddenly everything went wrong on board the plane. “I drink water as usual, go to the toilet and suddenly can no longer pee,” Graham describes the beginning of the nightmare. At first he thought the problem would solve itself: “I thought: If I just continue to drink water, it will happen at some point.”

But the next time Graham was going to the toilet, the pure was horrified: “Suddenly it started – but it was just pure blood.” The bleeding was so strong that the father of two children got a panic attack. “I couldn’t stop it, the sheer amount of blood was very scary,” he describes the dramatic moments.

In this desperate situation, a coincidence turned out to be a stroke of luck: Graham remembered a selfie that he had done with a fan before departure – the accident was a doctor. “He had a friend who was a surgeon,” says Graham. “So I explain the situation to you, and Dr. Haji says: ‘We can do it.'”

What followed was an operation in the middle of the plane. The area was sterilized, a catheter from the emergency box was brought. “I let my pants down, lie down on the couch, and he carries out a catheter operation directly there,” reports Graham about the surreal moment.

After the successful intervention, the grateful actor made a selfie with the doctors and the crew – as a memory of this extraordinary moment at a height of 10,000 meters.