Jello Biafra, the co-founder and former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys punk band, was hosptalized aftr suffering a stroke on Saturday, his record label said.
The 67-year-old musician, born Eric Reed Boucher, suffered a hemorrhagic stroke caused by high blood pressure, according to a Facebook post by Alternative Tentacles.
The stroke caused the left side of Biafra’s body to temporarily go numb, The Mercury News reported.
”I hopped out of my bed because I needed to pee, and my left leg just collapsed under me and I fell to the floor,“ Biafra said in the post shared by Alternative Tentacles. ”I couldn’t even break the fall with my left arm because it wasn’t working either. I tried to hop back up again, and I couldn’t. I realized I had ‘fallen and I can’t get up!’”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, hemorrhagic strokes occur when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and bleeds. The condition requires immediate attention and can be fatal.
Biafra helped co-found the San Francisco-based punk band in 1978, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Their brand of scathing political satire was evident in singles such as “California Über Alles.”
The group’s biggest hit was 1980’s “Holiday in Cambodia,” and Biafra was the lead singer on the single, which was featured on the group’s debut album, “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables."
Biafra said that he faces a long period of recovery. He remains hospitalized but is in stable condition, the Chronicle reported.
“I still have a lot of great stuff in me, but right now I gotta lotta of rehabbing to do,” he said via social media.
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