Thomas Markle, father of Meghan Markle, has shared a health update just days after allegedly having a leg amputation.
Reports emerged that Thomas was taken urgently to a hospital in Cebu in the Philippines following a blood clot. He is understood to have had an amputation below the knee after his foot became black.
After the operation last week, he was said to have been admitted to intensive care.
Meanwhile, his estranged daughter, Meghan, has reportedly been contacting numerous hospitals in a bid to reach her father after being informed of his medical condition.
Now, the Daily Mail reports that Thomas has shown improvement in his recovery by being moved from intensive care to a regular hospital ward.
His medical team is said to be pleased with his progress, observing that his wounds are healing appropriately – although they warned that an extended recovery period awaits. Thomas told the publication, “I am determined to walk again.”
He outlined what the post-surgery experience feels like: “I sometimes get a weird feeling that my leg is still there.”
He added, “The doctors said it was a common thing for people to feel ‘phantom’ limbs. I know I have a long journey ahead of me. I am thankful for the excellent care I have received here in Cebu and for the wonderful Filipino doctors and nurses who saved my life.”
Reports indicate he will stay in hospital for an additional week before moving to a rehabilitation facility for continued recovery. Meanwhile, Meghan has reportedly been personally contacting hospitals in the Philippines in a desperate bid to identify the logo on her father’s hospital gown visible in photographs.
Without a current phone number for her estranged father, Meghan had little option but to use email in a previous effort to make contact following his surgery. The father-daughter bond deteriorated in the run-up to the Royal wedding in 2018.
However, sources suggest that Thomas does not have access to his phone, rendering him unreachable. It is understood that Meghan has requested her PR team to liaise with journalists who have been in communication with her father, seeking details about his whereabouts and address so she can send him a handwritten letter.
Meghan’s dad, who moved from Mexico to the Philippines, has still not met his grandchildren Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4.
The retired TV lighting director famously pulled out of attending Harry and Meghan’s wedding seven years ago after being caught staging photographs for the paparazzi in the U.S., followed by a heart attack. In his place, Harry’s father, now the king, stepped in to walk Meghan down the aisle.
Thomas went on to regularly speak with the press and subsequently claimed that he had been “shunned” by Meghan. Despite his criticism of the Duchess, he voiced a wish for reconciliation and publicly appealed for the chance to meet Archie and Lili.
In 2023, he said, “She is not the person I knew as my daughter.”