Update On Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner

Maniacs…

I’ve always been grateful for the opportunities I’ve been presented with.  I’ve always considered myself THE most fortunate man ever – to be able to play my favourite music – with my favourite band…Just being able to type this to you all is the biggest gift of all.

As I watch footage from the ‘Louder Than Life Festival’ in Kentucky, I can see in my face the confusion and anguish, I was feeling whilst playing ‘Painkiller’ as my aorta ruptured and started to spill blood into my chest cavity….I was having what my doctor called an aortic aneurysm and complete aortic dissection. From what I’ve been told by my surgeon, people with this don’t usually make it to the hospital alive…..I was taken to the nearby Rudd Heart & Lung Center where I underwent a 10 ½ hour emergency open heart surgery.

Five parts of my chest were replaced with mechanical components…..I’m literally made of metal now. Whatever the circumstances, when watching that footage, the truth is, knowing what I know now, I see a dying man…..It could have all ended so differently. We can always drive ourselves crazy with these things, but I’m still alive thankfully.

One last thing maniacs, this came totally out of the blue for me – no history of a bad heart, no clogged arteries etc…my point is, I don’t even have high cholesterol and this could’ve been the end for me.  If you can get yourselves checked – do it for me please……

Lots of love and see you down the front again soon….