In a new interview with radio station Q105.7, Richie Faulkner revealed that he is still dealing with the side effects of the aortic aneurysm he suffered in 2021 during a Judas Priest . At the time, the guitarist was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery.
Today, four years after the incident, Faulkner reveals that he has suffered lasting effects on the right side of his body and details a constant routine of physiotherapy and ongoing medication, but clarifies that he doesn't need to do anything "too strenuous".
“I had some minor collateral damage on my right side from things related to what happened,” he details [transcription via Blabbermouth ]. “So, I need to take care of that. We have a physiotherapist on the road and I work with him three times a day: once in the morning — after these interviews, I go to work with him on coordination — before the show and after the show as well.”
“As far as my heart and everything else is concerned, it’s the medication. I can’t eat many leafy greens, which doesn’t bother me too much. I’ve been lucky, really. There are many people in the world with much more serious conditions than mine. So, I consider myself lucky to be here talking to you,” he concludes.
Asked if this meant that “everything is okay” with his health, Faulkner admitted: “As far as I know, but you never know what awaits you. You have to live each day to the fullest.”
Richie Faulkner suffered a second stroke a month after his first.
In an interview with PremierGuitar in April, Richie Faulkner revealed that he suffered a second stroke a month after the incident during the Judas Priest concert. At the time, he was walking his dog in the neighborhood with his family and felt his face "give way."
About a year after the incident, already back on stage with Priest, Faulkner was still feeling the side effects of those two episodes. That's when he discovered that one side of his brain was damaged.
“We were on tour and I thought everything was fine. I felt something in my right hand, but I thought it was my rings,” he says. “One morning, I was brushing my teeth and I thought, ‘There’s something wrong with my right hand. Something’s different.’ And with my right foot, with my right leg. So we went back [to the hospital]. We did some tests. They found a lesion on the left side of my brain, which affects the right side [of my body].”
“We did some more tests. They found the damage. They said that the fact that it hasn't disappeared means it's not a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack); it's a stroke. The damage from a TIA can disappear. But a stroke… That's it. It's damaged. You have brain damage. I thought I had brain damage before, but this is real. It's a little thing on the left side.”
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