H.R., the lead of the hardcore punk band Bad Brains, has successfully undergone brain surgery.
The singer suffers from a rare neurological disease called SUNCT which causes severe headaches at a moment’s notice. According to a GoFundMe page for his care, “The headaches come randomly, with no warning, at all hours of the day and night; but for him, they are much worse at night. The intensity of the nighttime headaches is so great that he yells, cries out, groans, and sobs—repeatedly, every few minutes, for most of the night. He can’t work. He has no quality of life. If you call him and ask how he is, he will say, ‘Everything’s okay,’ because that’s just how he is. But everything is not okay.”
The surgery was done on Tuesday (February 21) and H.R.’s wife, Lori Carns Hudson, has posted updates on a new Facebook page, Healing Meditation for HR, including an initial message that explained the procedure he was to go through.
HR will be undergoing a surgical procedure to treat his SUNCT headaches. The surgery is most often performed on people who suffer from trigeminal neuralgia, which causes pain in the cheek. HR’s pain is over his eye, but it still involves a branch of the trigeminal nerve. This pain is described as being the most intense pain known to man, and is often referred to as “suicide syndrome”. When medications and other treatments don’t work, the last resort is surgery.
The idea is that the pain is caused by a blood vessel pressing into the trigeminal nerve. In microvascular decompression surgery, a small hole is drilled through the skull behind the ear. The surgeon then cuts through the protective membrane to expose the brain and trigeminal nerve, and inserts a tiny scope to locate the offending vessel. The purpose of the surgery is to insert a barrier between the nerve and the blood vessel to relieve the pressure. While there are risks, the surgery has a high success rate.
On Tuesday afternoon, she wrote “Thank you for your many, many prayers! Surgery went well and he looks good. Now the recovery begins.” Three hours later, she followed with:
I feel like I was carried by your prayers over the last twelve hours. I didn’t worry for one second while HR was in surgery. Thank you.
We certainly have cause for celebration. However, it may take some time to see if HR’s surgery was successful in relieving the headaches. (I am always the Realist).
Love to all of you,
LoriP.S. If only you could have seen the beautiful look on his face when I read your messages to him on Sunday evening.
The GoFundMe page is still accepting donations.
