Saif Ali Khan Attack: Actor says “You’re either paralysed or not” as he recalls nearly losing his mobility; calls being able to move around a ‘miracle’

Actor Saif Ali Khan has responded to all conspiracy theories floating around the stabbing attack on him. In his first interview after the stabbing incident, Saif Ali Khan answered the internet’s most-asked questions like the absent driver, paralysis and injuries and his quick recovery.

Saif Ali Khan on his paralysis after stabbing incident

Saif Ali Khan reveals that when he heard of his paralysis, he said, “They said a good three-four inches of the knife has gone in behind the shoulder blade and has worked its way right to the bloody spinal cord. It’s a massive stab and it’s broken off, and it’s nicked the cover of the spinal cord. And there’s spinal fluid leaking out, which is why the feeling in the leg was going. That’s how close it came: Just one more millimetre and we’d be talking paralysis. It’s not like, you know, a back spasm or something that we’re underplaying.”

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The actor added, “And the doctors did a phenomenal job. It was a major surgery. It took six hours – the spinal thing alone took 2.5 hours. I was under anaesthesia for like five hours or something. It’s pretty big, that’s the longest I’ve ever been in a surgery. They didn’t tell me initially. They said – there is a foreign body in your back, and we need to get rid of that. I could walk and everything. So I didn’t think it’s very serious. Then later on, the doctor told me in instalments. He said, ‘Listen, you have lost spinal fluid.’ And there’s still some numbness in my thigh. And two days later, he told me why. He said, ‘I’ve moved all your nerves around.’ It’s been an incredible, like pain-free recovery apart from some muscular ache, which I’m still experiencing.”

Saif Ali Khan on his recovery

Saif also reveals how he was able to stroll without any discomfort, “Close is close. You’re either paralysed or you’re not. That’s how life is, right? I mean – you’re either hurt or not hurt. There’s 25 stitches here and there’s 30 stitches there. If you start with the two slashes on my palm and my arm – they had both not even cut a tendon. They could have cut the artery and the wrist and the veins, they could have cut… It’s just a miracle that my hands and my fingers are working fine. A guy cuts himself in the palm in the kitchen and then he can’t move his little finger for the rest of his life, you know.”

He added, “So that’s a miracle. I have like 30 most awful scars running down my neck. I don’t understand how he missed my carotid artery and jugular vein… it’s not possible to cut somebody’s neck the way my neck is cut, and not kill them.”

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What happened?

The actor reached Lilavati Hospital at 3 am on January 16. And had been admitted there for 5 days. He underwent a five-hour surgery at nearby Lilavati Hospital on Thursday and was shifted to the ICU later in the day. A piece of the knife was taken out of the actor’s body. Saif was discharged from the hospital on January 21. Saif made his first public appearance after the attack during a Netflix event, to promote his upcoming Netflix film, Jewel Thief.

Also Read: Saif Ali Khan Attack: Actor reveals why Taimur accompanied him to the hospital & not Kareena Kapoor; recalls auto-rickshaw driver’s compassion