Eric Church is lucky to be alive today. Last year, he underwent emergency surgery that literally saved his life. Eric told Rolling Stone Country that after wrapping his 2017 tour he noticed some tingling in his hands but chalked it up to nerves. A short time later, he was watching the College World Series and texting about it when he noticed that his left hand "was not responding like it should." Eric said his arm was swollen it was "noticeably red and enlarged." Eric began putting the pieces together and Googled thrombosis, which can happen to people on airplanes. He realized he had "five out of five symptoms" and quickly drove himself to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his chest. Eric said he asked, "Can it kill me?" When the doctors responded, "Today," he realized the seriousness of his condition. He added, "To them, I was going to die." The emergency surgery corrected a birth defect called thoracic outlet syndrome, in which in which the top rib is too close to the collarbone.He explained, “There’s a major vein that runs through there, and when I would raise my arm, it would pinch it and damage the vein. The clot was where it tried to heal. But it kept backing up, backing up. And like any clot, when you get enough pressure, it’s gonna blow.” A few days later Eric had surgery again to have his top rib removed, followed by months of physical therapy and rehab. According to Eric, there is another added benefit -- he said, "I play golf better than ever."
In that same article, Eric also sounded off about when Garth Brooks lip-synced his performance on the CMA Awards back in November during which Garth took home the Entertainer of the Year award. Eric said, “So the winner of the biggest category of the night lip-synced in the biggest moment on the show? F*** that! And I didn’t like his excuse at all.” At the time, Garth said his voice was compromised after performing 12 shows in 10 days. Eric added, “I felt like he was speaking for the other nominees. I can speak for myself – I’m not lip-syncing. If I can’t sing, I won’t sing, or I’ll sing badly. But at least you’ll get what you get . . . It is and always will be a red line. It’s fabricated. I don’t want young artists thinking it’s OK, because it’s not.”
Eric is featured on the August cover of Rolling Stone Country magazine. He will release his latest album, Desperate Man, on October 5th.
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