Nearly a week after cutting short his Roanoke performance, the 'Livin' the Dream' singer opens up that he was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) back in January.
- Aug 22, 2019
AceShowbiz - Drake White has revealed he has a debilitatling brain condition after he was rushed to hospital following his collapse on stage.
The 35-year-old country star was minutes into his set as the opening act for Scotty McCreery at Elmwood Park Amphitheater in Roanoke, Virginia on Friday, August 16 when he tumbled during the performance, PEOPLE reported. In an interview with the publication published on Wednesday, the "Livin' the Dream" star shared he was diagnosed in January with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), an abnormal tangle of arteries and veins in the brain that disrupts normal blood flow.
"It was basically stealing blood from my brain," White told PEOPLE in an interview that took place in July. "The neurologist told me that I should be thankful it was caught in time, because it could have caused a stroke."
The singer explained he initially developed a headache that wouldn't go away over the winter, but after doctors initially struggled to diagnose him, an "excruciating" MRI revealed it was AVM.
Since then, he's undergone four embolisation procedures to cut off blood flow to the affected vessels which entail his neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert Mericle, "running a catheter through my femoral arteries all the way up to the back of my head to glue the AVM shut."
The most recent took place four days before his onstage incident but White explained Dr. Mericle, who is based at TriStar Centennial Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, is confident they have removed 75 per cent of the mass and he hoped to be AVM-free by the end of the year.
White had kept up his touring schedule with his band The Big Fire while undergoing treatment which he found "very therapeutic."
"Emotionally it made me realise that I could still do this. Maybe I wasn't jumping around like I usually do, but I was doing it."
