Family in bedside vigil as Best fights for life

Football legend George Best remains on life support today as his family maintains a vigil around his bedside.

Best, 59, has been visited by his son, sisters and brothers as he struggles to survive on a life support machine. He was placed on the ventilator in the early hours of yesterday morning after he developed a serious lung infection at the Cromwell Hospital, west London.

The hospital’s spokesman, Jeffrey Brandon, last night said Best remained in a serious, but stable condition in intensive care.

“He is stable but remains critical. He is still on the life support machine. They have been able to withdraw one of the medicines he was on but he still remains critical,” said the spokesman.

Dr Akeel Alisa, assistant to Professor Roger Williams, who has been treating Best, said they were doing everything they could to help the former footballer.

Dr Alisa said yesterday: “We are following all medical avenues to try to keep him stable. He is ventilated so he is not conscious.”

As he left the hospital last night Dr Alisa said Best was still severely ill and remained critical.

Best’s son, Calum, arrived at the hospital yesterday to visit his father. Phil Hughes, Best’s agent, said his two sisters, Barbara and Carol, were also at his bedside as were his two brother-in-laws, Norman and Alan, and his brother Ian.

Calum left the hospital at around 6.10pm and as he left he said: “I want to say that my dad is very ill at the moment but he is stable.

“I would like to thank all the well-wishers, it really means a lot to me and the family.

“He is stable so hopefully he is going to get better.”

Around 20 minutes earlier Best’s elderly father, Dickie, also left the hospital and was driven away.

After seeing their father off, Best’s sisters returned to the hospital without comment.

Before being transferred into the intensive care department, seriously-ill Best asked Mr Hughes to take a picture of him as a warning about the dangers of excessive drinking.

Looking gaunt and with a yellow pallor due to his malfunctioning liver, alcoholic Best insisted his photo be taken as a deterrent to others.

The picture, which appears in the News of the World, shows the soccer legend lying in his hospital bed with tubes attached to his bruised body.

Mr Hughes told the paper: “George could never beat his drink problem, but he told me, ‘I hope my plight can act as a warning to others’.”

The ex-Manchester United star was admitted to the hospital on October 1 suffering from flu-like infections. His health deteriorated rapidly at the beginning of this month when he developed a kidney infection.

But his condition was thought to be improving until Friday when Professor Williams announced he had suffered a “big setback” and had developed a severe lung infection.

This new illness has caused problems “with kidneys and everything else again”, according to Prof Williams, and Best has been placed on dialysis.