‘If I was anyone else, not a fit, young, healthy man, I’d be in a bit of strife.’
Those were the terrifying words a Bali doctor had told AFL star Paul Curtis, after he was admitted to hospital during a trip to the Indonesian island.
‘It was pretty scary,’ Curtis said, in an emotional and confronting interview with his club North Melbourne.
On Sunday, it was revealed by 7News that Curtis had been left fighting for his life after the 22-year-old medium forward had contracted a respiratory illness known as empyema.
The illness causes a buildup of fluid in the cavities around a person’s lungs and is often caused by pneumonia. Symptoms can include breathlessness, chest pain, fever and exhaustion. The illness can be fatal without proper treatment.
Curtis had travelled to London following the conclusion of the 2025 AFL season, in which he kicked a career-high 38 goals across 19 matches.
North Melbourne youngster Paul Curtis has revealed that he was evacuated from Bali during the off-season, after he contracted a life-threatening illness and was later forced to undergo emergency surgery
Curtis had flown from London to Bali to meet his partner Kelera (right) but had suffered an allergic reaction to medication he’d been given in London, during the flight
But during his time in the UK, he began to feel flu-like symptoms.
He took himself to a London hospital. He was given some antibiotics and left the hospital before returning to the hospital, several days later where he was placed on a drip. Curtis was also given some strong panadol meds.
‘Nine days of being on the antibiotics and being on the panadol,’ he told the club’s website. ‘I had to stay a couple of extra days in London, and then I went to Bali with my partner Kelera.
‘I was feeling alright until I had to go get some blood tests done again, and they pretty much said like if I was anyone else, not a fit, young, healthy man, I’d be in a bit of strife, which was pretty scary.
‘Knowing that like if I was anyone else, I would have been in a lot more strife,’ he added.
Curtis then added that they didn’t want him having surgery in Bali, so the footballer was medevaced to Perth where he would undergo emergency surgery at the Hollywood Hospital in Nedlands.
He then opened up on the gruelling procedure that saw doctors cut three holes in his upper ribcage.
They began to drain out all the fluid from his lungs and placed him on a drain for four days after that.
‘Pulling it out was the worst. I can feel the drains coming out of my chest. And then had one nurse ripping them out and the other nurse ready to tie the knot. It was pretty scary.
Curtis revealed that a doctor in Bali had told him that he would be in ‘some strife’ had he not been ‘young, fit and healthy’. He said the comment was ‘scary’
During an interview with North Melbourne, he showcased that he had been left with three scars as a result of the emergency surgery
‘But shout out to the doctors and the physio. They were tremendous.’
The ordeal has shocked Curtis to the core, so much so that he added: ‘I don’t reckon I’m leaving Australia for the next couple of years.’
He has been left with three painful-looking scars on his ribcage as a result of the drainage procedure.
However, the young dad is eager to get back to playing football and remarkably is a chance to play in North Melbourne’s opening round clash against Port Adelaide on March 15.
Given the damage the illness has done to his lungs, regaining his fitness has not been easy.
After he had finally been able to return to the training field, Curtis admitted: ‘I couldn’t run for much longer than 30 seconds.’
The Victoria-born forward, who is one of the most exciting young forwards in the game, added: ‘Even in the gym it was so low and I was just finding my heart rate going through the roof and not being able to breathe after doing a short run.’
But Curtis, who has made 78 appearances for the Roos since making his debut in 2022, has been putting in the work behind the scenes, working hard in both the gym and on the training field to get back to full fitness.
The 22-year-old North Melbourne star had been holidaying in Europe when he contracted pneumonia (pictured with team-mate Jackson Archer)
Curtis is now a chance to start in the Roos first home game of the season in March, with the youngster having opened up on his gruelling rehabilitation
‘I want to be All-Australian one day and be a consistent 40-plus goal kicker for this club.
‘[I want to] stay here as long as I can,’ Curtis added.
‘So, where I’m at now in my career is trying to help the team win games and win silverware.
‘So, I’ve been doing a lot of work mentally, like trying to forget about like past moments and mistakes I made and a lot of breath work and trigger words to bring me back to my next moment in the game and what I can do in that point in time to change the game.’
