Deryck Whibley took to his website last week to make a huge, sad announcement. He suffered from organ failure at age 34 after boozing for many hard years. His kidneys and liver had failed, and he spent a week unconscious in the hospital after collapsing. Doctors told him that he could never drink again, or he would die. Deryck posted some scary, graphic photos and a letter to his fans. He urged them all to drink responsibly and avoid his fate. Deryck received a huge amount of support from friends, fans, and the online community. He posted this new photo and a brief thank you:
hey everyone, i just wanted to thank you all so much for sending gifts and all of the compassion and support you have shown me. it really means a lot to me in this time of recovery. i will be better soon and back out on stage before you know it.
see you all soon, deryck whibley
[From Deryck Whibley]
He looks so frail. I have no idea where Deryck goes from here. Is it possible for him to even make a full physical recovery? He can no longer drink, but he’s probably done irrepairable damage to his organs. The best he can probably do is manage his condition. I feel so bad for him. Yes, he’s the one who boozed so hard for so many years, but he’s obviously an addict. I hope Deryck can recover as much as possible and continue to stay sober. He knows that he has no choice, but he can help others by spreading his message.
Deryck may look frail, but he does look healthier than he did last year.
Photos courtesy of Deryck Whibley & WENN
Oh my goodness, this is so sad to see 🙁
Please do *not* let him make the mistake of thinking he can have ‘just a sip’ in the upcoming years. You hear stories of addicts who are sober for years and then make the mistake of thinking they can have ‘just a little bit’ a while later, not realizing they no longer have the tolerance, and then perish because of it. Please don’t let that happen.
Alcohol is not worth it.
It’s addiction, not alcohol.
Alcohol, etc… jesus. He looks like death.
Wow he looks so tiny and frail, weak beyond his years. Hope he gets it together, addiction is no joke , someone could be told that unless they stop their behavour they will DIE but some still can’t help it like Amy Winehouse, George Best.
I’m not gonna lie….glanced at the top photo and thought it was Yoko Ono for a second.
Scrolled back up; you’re right.
Me too!
He’s difficult to even look at, at this point. How terribly sad.
Wow, poor guy. I hope he gets better.
How truly sad. It’s incredible how some people can abuse their bodies into old age while others die so young or in his case, come very close. He has an unfathomable battle getting through each day. Poor guy.
I was a big sum 41 fan back in the day, and this is really sad to see. I’ve also had my own challenges with alcohol, and this is VERY sobering (literally).
I wish him the best, speediest possible recovery and thank him for spreading the message about the dangers and repercussions of addiction.
Get well Deryck!
Same here. Good to see him doing better.
Sad.
This is so sad. It also angers me because this happened to my father but not from alcohol. How is it that someone can NOT abuse their body & suffer same sickness & fate as someone who does abuse their body? That said, I understand he is an addict & probably regretful, but it was hard to watch my dad die awaiting new organs in Canada when people in the US can just go & buy their new liver & ruin it again. Sickening.
That is not how organ transplant works in the U.S. I’m sorry about your dad, but there is an established wait list procedure in the U.S. and people aren’t simply buying new livers.
Yeah, I was almost insulted, but then realized the person is speaking from pain and bitterness.
People in the US die all the time waiting for organs.
Kim, as both a critical care nurse practitioner AND an American who works for the NHS in the UK, a couple of things. I am very sorry that your father has been stricken by illness. However, your blanket comments about people in the US who go out and “buy” a liver are misleading, incorrect, and the type of thing I grow weary of hearing all the blooming time over here at my job. Trust me when I tell you that for every person you read about supposedly jumping the list or “buying” an organ, there are just as many who pass away without one, no matter what the nature of their disease. If there is one thing that is unilaterally true, it’s that illness is unfair; it strikes those who supposedly “deserve” it, and those who don’t equally.
Completely agree.
Hospital a transplant boards have strict guidelines to decide who can be on that list. If you mistreat your body while on the list you can be removed as well.
We all hear stories of people buying organs. Steve Jobs and his private liver transplant comes to mind. And that’s not really fair, but it’s hardly the norm.
Well, my mom died in December and needed a new liver. We could more than have afforded to buy one, so I do find your comment offensive and completely inaccurate. I am sorry about your father, but sick Americans like my mom die waiting too.
as others have stated, people are not just buying new organs. It is not even legal to pay a live donor. even if a person has a live donor available, they still have to meet transplant board criteria to qualify for a transplant, and sobriety plus treatment compliance are huge factors. I am sorry to hear about your father. many of my patients have died waiting for transplants as well. I know many good people who spent literally 10 years on the transplant list waiting for that call which never came. It’s an incredibly sad thing, and it certainly not any easier in the USA than it is in Canada.
So heartbreaking to see this. I hope he has a strong support network around him, best of luck to him.
There is so much about his story that I would like to know. For example, what was he drinking and how much of it was he drinking each day? Aside from the obvious bloating, what other signs was he having? Alcoholic organ collapse doesn’t just happen overnight. There are usually telltale signs when your kidneys and liver are failing. He most likely would have been weak and short of breath. His fingernails or tips of his fingers might have turned yellow. He might have been jaundiced all over. He would likely have been extremely itchy because of toxin buildup. His urine and stools likely changed overtime.
He very likely knew he was dying but just couldn’t stop drinking. Addiction sucks.
His breath should be able to wake the dead. Fishy urine for the kidneys, ammonia for the liver (I’ve never understood what makes that ‘mousy breath’, but I don’t make the breath manuals).
If you google Brian Keith Diaz and Deryck Whibley you’ll find his blog. He is Deryck’s former guitar tech and chronicles details of Deryck’s alcohol amount in his blog.
He was definitely drinking vast amounts of hard liquor (Jack Daniels, Vodka) daily, mixed with beer and wine and also did cocaine for years and other substances, ecstacy, LSD etc. in his younger years.
For anyone interested, there are also paparazzi photos and videos of him outside of the hospital online as well as new private pictures.
The video shows him walking cautiously being hold up by two people. Bot the video and the other pictures also show something what this picture doesn’t. Although his arms and legs are razor sharp thin and he looks very frail, his liver is still very swollen.
I would appreciate it if somebody could give me medical details about that.
I anyone can tell me more about alcohol withdrawal that would be great. in the blog you can read that he tried to quit cold turkey once only collapse with alcohol tremors the same night on stage. There is actually video footage of that moment on youtube. I understand that they induced a coma for a week and that he went through alcohol withdrawal while sedated which is the reason he is doing so well right now, seemingly getting better, happy and concentrating on new music.
Is it that easy? Can you go through withdrawal while being sedated and be done?
Just to reiterate what’s already been said- you have to have AT LEAST 6 months to even get on (the bottom of) the transplant list. Sadly, I’ve never had a patient live to transplant. Most don’t get sober until they are so far down the tracks they can’t limp through the years and years of waiting. On a personal note, I am a proud organ donor and I hope that everyone here take a look at that option for themselves. We can’t take it with us, but we might be able to help others after we’re gone.
I’m actually in the midst of final screening to be a kidney donor for a good friend with autoimmune disease. Several of us in our theatre circle went for testing together as a sign of support (her illness was just effectively diagnosed a month ago). So fingers crossed one of us is a match.
And as someone with a history of addiction in her family, my heart goes out to Deryk’s family. I’m sure this is the exact outcome they’d fought hard to prevent. Jeeze.
Oh, this poor guy. He’s looks like a twelve-year-old, just because he’s so thin now. I wish him all the recovery that’s possible for his body, and many, many years of healthy life to enjoy.
He looks like Gollum. Quite a shame.
He’s lucky he got a second chance in life. Good for him for talking seriously about alcohol and how it can destroy the body.
He has a very hard and long road ahead of him.I wish him nothing but the best.
Answers for medical:
Yes, there is such a thing as going through a chemical detoxification program while anesthetized. It is not widely used and can be dangerous. The only time I ever saw it used was for a patient who needed to be rapidly detoxed in preparation for surgery. But there are probably private clinics that will do it for a fee. Which would be high, due to the need for continuous monitoring of the patient. Think ICU type monitoring.
Not the kind of thing I’d want to have done in any private clinic, unless said clinic was inside or attached to a large hospital – with plenty of people around who know how to handle things like tonic/clonic seizures or even a code.
Kidneys can and will fail rather abruptly during a wide range of serious illnesses. The patient can be dialyzed during the medical crisis. Once the causative illness is dealt with, the kidneys will usually come back. But not always. Then it means dialysis until a transplant can be had.
Liver failure is a whole different ballgame. The liver is a highly complex organ and it serves a number of major, major functions. From removing toxins from the blood (alcohol is a toxin) to producing blood clotting factors.
Regarding alcohol, there is a specific enzyme produced by the liver that negates alcohol. Normal production will remove so much alcohol at such and such a rate. This formula is used to determine how many drinks one must have ingested to produce a certain blood alcohol level.
BUT some people don’t produce these enzymes at a normal rate to begin with. Others cause damage to the organ itself by continuously bathing it in alcohol. And the body does not care if alcohol is coming into it in the form of wine or beer or hard liquor.
1 12 oz. beer = 5 oz. wine = 1 oz. hard liquor
So liver failure is indeed slower. Enlarged liver: The damaged liver will attempt to repair itself. This leads to a growth and then an overgrowth of tissue. But it is not organized, functioning tissue. It is just tissue.
Detection of problems: Elevated liver enzymes. It is a simple blood test.
Abdomen swollen (what you probably saw in a photo) This is called ascites. It is fluid accumulation within the abdomen. Not a good sign. Serious illness is present. The person’s blood chemicals and proteins are messed up and fluids are oozing out of the circulatory system into the free space within the abdomen. They drain it. Sometimes repeatedly.
Hope this info helps!
Alcohol withdrawal syndrome can also be quite dangerous. Convulsions and Delirium Tremens can, and often are, the result of abruptly stopping drinking by a person who drinks heavily. Problems have also erupted in those who drink only “moderately”. Most any doctor will be very receptive to a patient who wants to quit alcohol. They can assess and guide a person in doing this. Starting to cut back – and that means COUNTING the beers and drinks and measuring the wine so you know for sure what your ingestion is – is the way to start.
Thanks for your answers.
I assume that he received the best medical care and went through a chemical detoxification program. He talked about being in the hospital for a month and being sedated for the first week.
I know that quitting cold turkey can in some cases be as dangerous as drinking so that is the only way I can explain him quitting so drastically from the night he collapsed and they called the ambulance specifically if he experienced problems when he tried to stop drinking on his own before.
Yes, he clearly still has ascites. Is it temporary until all the fluid is drained? It just bugged me that people who only saw one photo and this article mentioned him being skin and bones neglecting his swollen belly.
To this point, I always heard it the way round. The liver can recover but kindeys much less likely.
I find it weird that Deryck, his friends and family act like he has no serious medical problems to deal with but will simply stop drinking and recover and be back on stage in no time. I don’t think the process is that simple.
Whoa, this is really insightful, thank you.
*Deryck may look frail, but he does look healthier than he did last year*
Is it just me or does he look even WORSE now? Last year he’s swollen but at least doesn’t look frail for like he’s dying.