New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called pheochromocytoma. The musician underwent successful surgery to remove the tumor earlier this month, but not before Gilbert’s wife saved his life after she found him unresponsive in bed.
The past couple of weeks have been harrowing for Chad Gilbert, who helped form the pop-punk favorites in 1997. He detailed his ordeal in a lengthy Instagram post which spills into the comments section. Here’s what Gilbert shared with his fans:
For the last 14 days I’ve been living in the hospital having cancer removed. Here’s the timeline of my unexpected journey:
On December 5th, my wife found me unresponsive in bed. I’d been waking up drenched in sweat the last few days and we thought I was sick. Not being able to wake me, she called 911 and performed CPR and mouth to mouth. Apparently I was doing something called “agonal breathing” and was minutes from death. I woke up with 7 paramedics surrounding my bed. I was so confused. My blood sugar somehow dropped to 20 and if my wife hadn’t found me, I would’ve fallen into a coma or died. The paramedics took me to the ER in an ambulance. They couldn’t figure out why my blood sugar kept dropping or why my blood pressure kept skyrocketing, even with blood pressure medication in my system. I was hooked up to two different drips I couldn’t be separated from.
The next day, an amazing endocrinologist visited me and asked a bunch of questions about my health. It honestly felt like she was an angel from heaven. She told me based on all my symptoms that I have a very rare tumor called a Pheochromocytoma! It’s a tumor that grows on your adrenal gland and messes up all of your hormones. It was eating all my glucose, changing my hormones, and raising my blood pressure. I couldn’t survive without IVs until this tumor was removed.
12/6 I received a CT scan which showed some alarming news. My tumor was malignant and had grown from my adrenal gland onto my liver. It was huge. Which made my Pheochromocytoma even more rare since they usually are benign.
12/8, three days since my amazing wife saved me from dying in bed. I was transported to a major hospital and moved into the ICU. I got an MRI which showed that the tumor was in fact one growth and had not spread to other parts of my body. Now that my miracle doctor, cancer doctor, and incredible surgeon had all the info they needed, they scheduled my surgery for Monday, 12/13.
Congratulations to Chad Gilbert and his medical team for a successful surgery. We’d like to wish Chad and his loved ones the very best in his upcoming pathology report, along with strength and resolve during this difficult time.
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