Judas Priest's Richie Faulkner has given a health update regarding the onstage aneurysm he experienced at Louder Than Life festival in September.
As Priest tore into the song Painkiller during their set, the 41-year-old guitarist suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection (a rapture of the aorta), and was rushed to the Lung Centre at UofL Health – Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. At the hospital, he underwent 10 hours of life-saving surgery to stabilise his condition.
Now, almost two months later, Faulkner has given an update on his recovery, which he says is going well.
"I've had many of you asking for an update on how my recovery is going," the guitarist wrote on a post via Instagram.
"I was able to return home from hospital 10 days after my surgery to continue recovery at home. It has now been seven weeks since the night it all happened and I'm feeling very strong and positive.
"My incisions have healed very well and I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm walking well and moving freely, I'm pretty active and I'm starting cardiac therapy very soon. I'm playing guitar everyday and with the love and support of my family, the continued support from you guys and the inspiration that I get from the guitar, I'll be back on stage in no time! My surgeons are very pleased with my progress and have all reserved front row tickets for the next Priest show.
"It's Thanksgiving this month, and whether you celebrate it or not, I have a lot to give thanks for this year; including all of you for your patience, your love and your support. Lots of love and I'll see you down the front soon, horns held high".
Last month, Priest frontman Rob Halford revealed he was "still shook up" from witnessing Faulkner's ordeal. When posed with the question as to whether Halford intends on viewing the newly-surfacing fan-footage of the incident, he admits, "I can’t look at that yet. I’m still shook up, emotionally. Eventually I’ll try to watch the footage, but [Faulkner] says in his own words when he looked at that footage he sees a dying man, which is basically what it was."
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