New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert Undergoes Surgery After Cancer Diagnosis
New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert has revealed that he recently underwent surgery after receiving a cancer diagnosis. On Sunday, Dec. 19, Gilbert took to Instagram to share the harrowing story of what he's been living through for the past few weeks, and shared photos of his hospital stay. "For the last 14 days I've been living in the hospital having cancer removed," he began his post, then sharing a "the timeline of my unexpected journey."
Gilbert revealed that "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 following day, Gilbert met with "an amazing endocrinologist" whom he described like "an angel from heaven" that was able to diagnose his illness. "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."
For the next several days, Gilbert spent his days in the hospital, undergoing multiple tests and scans, Eventually, on Monday, Dec. 13, Gilbert underwent surgery to have the tumor removed. "The surgery was predicted to be 4 and a half hours but [the doctor] finished it in two. The tumor wasn't attached to anything tricky so they basically cut it out and peeled it off," he explained. "But man this scar is insanely big. I couldn't grasp how large the tumor was until now. I was sedated and drugged up and don't remember anything from surgery day. My surgeon came in the next morning and let us know he got it all out!! Now we just needed the pathology report to make sure no cancer got in the lymphnodes."
He then added, "The night of the 15th I was moved from the ICU to the Cancer Center. There I recovered from surgery! I'll know about future treatments in a few weeks but for now I'm able to come home!!! It's Sunday, December 19th. Yesterday was the first time I got to smell fresh air since December 5th. I'm home with my wife and baby and so thankful to be alive!!"