Story By: Michael Leidig,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN/ Danny Polaris
Friends of the British man left with a permanent erection are appealing for donations to fund complicated medical surgery he still needs over the next six months.
Danny Polaris, who is a Welsh gay performance artist living in Berlin, had taken an erection enhancing drug after meeting a man at the Christopher Street Day parade in the German capital.
His partner who is a nurse suggested injecting it directly into his penis, and he had already taken Viagra without thinking about the complications. He also has HIV and was taking medication for that as well.
Pictures Credit: CEN/ Danny Polaris
He said: “I just thought, what could possibly go wrong – he’s a medical professional, he knows what he’s doing”.
However, the next day his erection had not gone away, and when it became painful he went to a doctor who rushed him to hospital.
He was in so much pain he was occasionally blacking out, and was horrified when he was told the condition could result of the loss of his penis or even death.
Video Credit: CEN/@dannypolaris
As doctors battled to save his life, he revealed on social media how a seven-inch curly plastic screw had been inserted into the flesh of his penis shaft in order to allow blood to be drained away. He lost so much blood that he needed a transfusion, and when that did not work, they opted for another operation.
This time they took a vein from his upper thigh and connected it to the base of his penis so that the blood could come out that way.
He told local media how he almost given up hope, especially when they told him about the amputation risk, and the blood clots that are developing in his penis would have killed him instantly if they moved to his brain or lungs. He said he had contacted his parents advising them to get passports in case they needed to say goodbye.
Medics say he may well now be out of danger as the operation appears to have started to work, however he will need several future operations plus physiotherapy to cope with the fact he is now having to remain in bed for so long.
He said he decided to go public with the story to warn others of the dangers of mixing medication and also to talk about the subject, which is often taboo.
He is also waiting to find out if he will ever be able to have an erection again, and described what had happened as “one of the worst decisions of my life”
On a GoFundMe page (https://www.gofundme.com/f/helpdannygetwell) set up by his friends, it says: “Danny has been suffering with a potentially life-threatening priapism for more than 10 days.
“He has been in a lot of pain, last week he lost a lot of blood and may have been close to death.
“He is being brave, focused and is a survivor!
“But however positive he’s trying to be, he’s also traumatised and often crying with extreme stress and anxiety.
“Some days he’s been in so much pain, that he has blacked out / fallen unconscious, even with strong pain relief.”
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