On September 26, Richie Faulkner, Judas Priest’s guitarist, suffered an acute cardiac aortic dissection during a festival performance.
Now, Faulkner is recuperating in Nashville and is able to reflect on the shocking experience. “I had no idea whatsoever what it was,” the 41-year-old rocker explained of the pain he felt halfway through the band’s final song of their Louder Than Life performance.
“The more I read about it, the more unbelievable,” Faulkner expressed of learning about his own experience after it had happened. “I don’t know how I’m still around today.”
“Go and get checked,” he encouraged fans, crediting his survival to his cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Siddharth Pahwa. “You saved my life,” Faulkner told Pahwa. “My little girl saw me come home, and that just means everything.”
—
Photo credit: James Jeffrey Taylor / Shutterstock.com