Deryck Whibley (Sum 41): If I have one drink, the docs say I will die
In a post shared on his website, entitled Rock Bottom, he discussed how his addiction to alcohol had led to his collapse, sharing a series of harrowing pictures from his hospital bed. “Hey everyone, it’s Deryck here. Sorry I’ve been so m.i.a. lately, but I’ve been very sick in the hospital for a month and was pretty sick for a few weeks leading up to my trip to the hospital,” he wrote. “The reason I got so sick is from all the hard boozing I’ve been doing over the years. It finally caught up to me.”
He told of how he was “drinking hard every day” until one evening he poured himself another drink and sat down to watch a film when he collapsed unconscious.
“My fiancé got me rushed to the hospital where they put me into the intensive care unit,” he said.
“I was stuck with needles and IV’s all over. I was completely sedated the FIRST WEEK. When I finally woke up the next day I had no idea where I was. My mum and step dad were standing over me. I was so freaked out. My liver and kidney’s collapsed on me. Needless to say it scared me straight.”
The musician – who was once married to Avril Lavigne – can no longer drink as doctors have told him that if he has “one drink the docs say I will die”.
Whibley’s pictures will shock many, who remember the musician as a pop-punk kid pin-up; a skateboarding guitarist with huge dimples and enviably spiky hair.
The Canadian singer was born in 1980 to a single teenage mother. They struggled financially and were forced to move regularly to make ends meet. He never met his father and later in his career wrote a track, Dear Father, venting his frustrations with having been “ignored”.
His pop punk band, Sum 41, rose to fame in the early 00s, selling over 30million albums. He briefly dated Paris Hilton, before marrying Avril Lavigne in July 2006.
Lavigne has suggested that she helped Whibley deal with his earlier demons – namely drugs.
“I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to him, He doesn’t do drugs,” she said in 2007. “Clearly, he used to, because he talked about it, but I wouldn’t be with someone who did, and I made that very clear to him when we first started dating.”
However, their marriage was shortlived and they split in 2007 citing “irreconcilable differences”. He suffered problems with his back and suffered a herniated disc in 2007 and again in 2010, when Sum 41 were forced to end their Australian and American tour.
One by one, members of the band began to leave, including long-standing drummer Stevo Jocz – who Whibley had known from school. Whibley is currently the only original founding member of the group. He became more and more unrecognisable as pictures emerged last summer of the 34-year-old singer looking noticeably bloated and dishevelled at a Tom Petty gig.
The band’s sixth album (their first since 2011) was expected to be released later this year, although it remains to be seen how Whibley’s medical condition will impact the release.
However, he remains positive about his future.
“I have my passion and inspiration back for writing music,” he continued. “I already have a few song ideas for new songs. Soon it will be time to start making an album and getting back to touring again. See you all sometime! There will be more posts again so stay up to date friends.”
Source: The Independent
