Drake White Reveals Medical Condition After Scary Moment Onstage
The country singer has been diagnosed with a serious brain condition.
“Livin’ the Dream” hit maker Drake White suffered a scary moment onstage last weekend, nearly collapsing in front of a crowd in Virginia and being forced to stop the concert. Now he’s gone public with the serious medical condition which may have been the cause.
Speaking with People, the 35 year old singer-songwriter has revealed that he has an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in his brain — an abnormal tangle of arteries and veins that disrupts normal blood flow. White says he found out about the problem in January after developing a bad headache while he was at home in Nashville.
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“That morning, I had worked out and went to a lunch meeting, and that’s when the headache started,” he explained just a few weeks before his onstage scare. “By 2 p.m. I was in bed seeing spots in my left eye, and that’s when my left side started going numb. I tried to sleep it off but woke up with the same intense headache.”
White and his wife, Alex, then went to the emergency room and tests revealed the diagnosis, which doctors believe White has had since birth. They were informed that the condition is treatable, but absolutely serious.
“It was basically stealing blood from my brain,” he said. “The neurologist told me that I should be thankful it was caught in time, because it could have caused a stroke.”
Since then White has undergone four procedures to cut off blood flow to the affected blood vessels, including one just four days before nearly collapsing. But White says that was normal, admitting he also played a show just two days after another procedure.
“And that was very therapeutic to me,” he said. “Emotionally it made me realize that I could still do this. Maybe I wasn’t jumping around like I usually do, but I was doing it.”
It’s not clear if the AVM was the cause of last weekend’s episode, but for now White is staying off the road to recover and learn more about what happened. He says doctors have told him they think they’ve treated 75 percent of the tangled mass on his brain, but there are more tests and procedures in his future. Still, he’s taking a big-picture view, relying on his faith and staying positive about his journey.
“I’m not telling this story for me,” White said. “Someone needs to hear it and God wants me to share it. It will help people believe in miracles, and I will feel that energy. The world needs that kind of energy right now.”
