New Found Glory‘s Chad Gilbert has undergone emergency surgery for a rare form of cancer.
The guitarist took to Instagram this week (December 19) to share the story of how he was “minutes from death” after his wife found him unconscious in bed.
“For the last 14 days I’ve been living in the hospital having cancer removed,” his lengthy message began. “Here’s the timeline of my unexpected journey:
“On December 5th, my wife found me unresponsive in bed,” he added. “I’d been waking up drenched in sweat the last few days and we thought I was sick. Not being able to wake me, she called 911 and performed CPR and mouth to mouth. Apparently I was doing something called “agonal breathing” and was minutes from death.”
“My blood sugar somehow dropped to 20 and if my wife hadn’t found me, I would’ve fallen into a coma or died,” Gilbert said. “The paramedics took me to the ER in an ambulance. They couldn’t figure out why my blood sugar kept dropping or why my blood pressure kept skyrocketing, even with blood pressure medication in my system. I was hooked up to two different drips I couldn’t be separated from.
He went on to explain how an endocrinologist visited him and “told me based on all my symptoms that I have a very rare tumour called a Pheochromocytoma! It’s a tumour that grows on your adrenal gland and messes up all of your hormones. It was eating all my glucose, changing my hormones, and raising my blood pressure. I couldn’t survive without IVs until this tumour was removed.”
He elaborated: “I received a CT scan which showed some alarming news. My tumour was malignant and had grown from my adrenal gland onto my liver. It was huge. Which made my Pheochromocytoma even more rare since they usually are benign.”
In a further comment, Gilbert spoke of the “intense, large, and dangerous” surgery to remove the tumour, and that he now awaits tests to check whether the cancer has spread any further.
“Looking back on the timing of all of this, the incredible people put in my life to save me, the hospital staff whom I have the highest respect for, the way they took care of me while caring for an entire intensive care unit… I just can’t believe the strength these nurses have,” Gilbert’s message concluded. “My wife Lisa and my mom were the driving forces of my positivity.”
Gilbert and New Found Glory released new Christmas album ‘December’s Here’ this month.