TEXAS guitarist Ally McErlaine is ready to tour again despite being given a one per cent chance of survival when he was struck with a brain haemorrhage in 2009.
Doctors believed the aneurysm would kill the Glasgow-born musician, and his family was told five times to say their final goodbyes.
McErlaine’s wife Shelly was told by doctors that they were astonished he had made it into hospital in the first place, and that most people in his condition died in intensive care.
He was in a coma for three months and spent a further two months in a wheelchair, as well as suffering from short-term memory loss – he had no recollection of being in Texas.
But 42-year-old McErlaine fought back and says he is now ready to put the illness behind him and get back to playing music.
He said: “I had suffered a ‘grade five’ aneurysm, which is the worst sort you can have.
“It wasn’t localized to one spot of my brain either – it covered my whole brain.
“My surgeon told Shelly that 80 per cent of grade fives never made it to hospital; they usually drop dead on the spot.
“And the ones who do make it into intensive care usually die there.
“So the chances of me surviving were less than one per cent.
“I was pretty much dead on more than one occasion.
“But I had the easy part, lying there in a coma.
“It was my poor family and friends who suffered the most.”
The guitarist is also gearing up to take on the Great Scottish Run in December, which will see him running 13 miles around his hometown of Glasgow.
McErlaine said: “I don’t care how long it takes me – I’m just glad to still be around to give it a try.
“After three months in a coma and two months in a wheelchair, running has given me a tremendous sense of freedom.”
