Spring wedding boost for truckie Sludge on long road to recovery

Outback Truckers star Paul ‘Sludge’ Andrews has some good news to share at last with his legions of online fans.

In recent posts, he confirmed that his wedding to fiancée Wendy Kennedy will be going ahead in early September, albeit with numbers reduced “drastically” with just a simple affair at home before a few family and friends.

“My rock during this time has been my fiancée, Wendy,” Sludge said in a post to the Outback Truckers Official Facebook page. “Thank you darlin’ from the bottom of my heart! She’s finally making an honest man out of me!”

Sludge, who was told by doctors that he is lucky to still be alive after a serious motorbike accident in March this year, also thanked his fans for their support over the last six months, which he described as the toughest period of his life.

“I was in hospital for months and I’ve had to learn to walk again. There’s still a long way to go but without the support of people like you guys out there I’m not sure I would be as far down the track as I am today. You won’t be seeing me in the Phantom for a bit but don’t you worry I’ll be getting back out on the road as soon as I can!”

In an update on the GoFundMe fundraiser page, Kennedy also thanked everyone for their support and said that Sludge has recovered well from having both his knees operated on.

However, vertigo is still causing a lot of grief, she added. A recent MRI showed that there is still a lot of blood and clots in the brain which would be causing his dizziness, tiredness and feeling unbalanced.

“Sludge is seeing a neurosurgeon on the 15th of this month to try and get some sort of relief.

“The last few weeks have been extremelly tough going through opiod withdrawls and now the last week Sludge has some kind of illness where he is struggling to eat and drink, and he has lost 7kg.

“Sludge still has quite bad short term memory loss and collapsed the other day hurting one of his knees he had surgery.”

The current illness is also playing havoc with his sugar levels which is also concerning. Sludge is a type 2 diabetic.

“It seems to be one thing after another and all this can also take its emotional toll.”

The March accident left Sludge with significant injuries including a brain injury, broken ribs, several broken bones, torn ligaments, fractured cheek bones and lots of bruising and abrasions.