H.R. of Legendary Punks Bad Brains Needs Brain Surgery to Repair his Seriously Bad Brain

H.R., frontman for the legendary DC hardcore band Bad Brains, hasn’t been feeling well for a while. He’s been diagnosed with a condition called SUNCT, a rare neurological condition that results in sudden severe headaches without any kind of warning. With medical costs spiraling out of control–thank you, America–H.R. had to resort to a setting up a GoFundMe campaign. Here’s what he wrote:

To give you an idea of what he’s dealing with, the headaches are nicknamed “Suicide Syndrome.” 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.

We’ve been consulting doctors for the past few years, and have uncovered several health issues that we were able to address and overcome. But these headaches… In the past six months, he’s been to the emergency room twice, had an overnight in the hospital, has seen two neurologists, and so far he has a diagnosis and found a pain medication that worked well for a while but is not safe to take long-term—so it’s two steps forward, three steps back. He has an appointment in early May at a Headache Center–not fully covered by health insurance–where we hope to find someone with experience with this type of a headache. He’s on a cocktail of pharmaceuticals that scares me. He has lost weight, with visible muscle wasting.

He will undergo brain surgery on February 21. It won’t be a cure necessarily, but it should mitigate the symptoms. More details at Noise11.com.