A reminder of 'how fragile life is' - Damien Martyn back home from hospital
"So happy to be home, to be able to put my feet in the sand on the beach," Damien Martyn tweets
ESPNcricinfo staff
17-Jan-2026 • 4 hrs ago
Gallo Images/Getty Images
"I'm back," former Australia cricketer Damien Martyn has tweeted as part of a message on social media that's equal parts health update - all positive - and a thank-you note, in his first public comments since being taken severely ill with meningitis.
"After being given a 50/50 chance of surviving, I came out of the induced coma 8 days later...not able to walk or talk. And yet 4 days after that, with the doctors in disbelief, I walked, I talked and proved to them all why I should be released from hospital to start my recovery," Martyn, now 54, wrote after returning home from hospital, where he was admitted on Boxing Day.
"So happy to be home, to be able to put my feet in the sand on the beach and to start thanking all those people that reached out to me and my family in their [unwavering] support."
This post is A BIG thank you to ALL my family, friends and so many other people who have reached out to me!
— Damien Martyn (@damienmartyn) January 17, 2026
On the 27th of December 2025 my life was taken out of my hands…when meningitis took over my brain, & unbeknownst to me I was placed into a paralysed coma for 8 days to… pic.twitter.com/3Mt3DS6MZY
Martyn was taken ill on Boxing Day and was put in an induced coma soon after. While it didn't look good at the time, on January 4, close friend and former team-mate Adam Gilchrist spoke of "an unbelievable turn of events in the last 48 hours" - doctors were ready to move Martyn out of intensive care after a turnaround for the better.
"He has responded extraordinarily well since coming out of the coma to the point where his family feels it's like some sort of miracle," Gilchrist said. "It has been so positive that they're hopeful he will be able to move out of the ICU into another part of the hospital, which is representative of what a great recovery it's been and how quickly it has flipped around. He's in good spirits and overwhelmed by the support. There is still some treatment and monitoring to go but it's looking positive."
Martyn reported on Saturday that he was back home and feeling fine after his "life was taken out of my hands".
"There are so many wonderful people in this world… from paramedics (at Mermaid Waters Ambulance), doctors & nurses (at Gold Coast University Hospital)… to family, friends and people I didn't even know," Martyn wrote. "I feel like I met all these fantastic people in the past 3 weeks, or they reached out to me through messages of love and support."