Moon Tooth Guitarist Nick Lee Hospitalized; GoFundMe Established
Last week, New York-based progressive metal outfit Moon Tooth announced that they would not be able to play their upcoming performance with Cave In because of a medical emergency. Today, the other members of the band revealed that guitarist Nick Lee remains in the hospital following multiple seizures.
You can read the band’s entire statement below. Doctors are still working to figure out the exact details regarding his illness but the band have established a GoFundMe for Lee’s rapidly-increasing medical bills in the meantime.
“Moon Tooth family,
“It’s been a week since we made the announcement we would have to be dropping off the Cave In show at Gramercy Theatre due to an emergency. While it wasn’t very detailed, we went through an intense and honestly terrifying experience with one of our members. We were hoping that by this time everything would be back to “normal,” and Nick Lee would be able to address the situation and explain everything to you on his own. Unfortunately, that is not the reality at this time. It’s not easy to write this, and there is no way to sugarcoat the situation so we’re just going with honesty.
“On Thursday afternoon (July 21), we met up for rehearsal and to prep for the following night’s show. Nick seemed like his normal self but mentioned how exhausted he was and how he had been sort of foggy and confused the last 24 hours. We agreed to run the set but finish early so he could get some rest and sleep it off. While setting up our gear we were walking in and out of the rooms at the studio and at some point, Nick had fallen and hit his head. While looking through security camera footage after the fact, we learned that Nick had a seizure and fell hitting his head on a bass drum. We had found him just moments after it had happened, and immediately called an ambulance to rush him to the nearest hospital. By the time the EMT’s arrived he had suffered a second seizure.
“Here we are a week later, and sadly things have taken a turn for the worse. He has been suffering from seizures every night escalating to the point of needing to be intubated and essentially put in a medically induced coma to give his body a chance to heal. The doctors continue to take many tests to properly diagnose Nick while keeping him as stable as possible in order to heal. The cause of all this still remains unclear, and a very confusing situation as it came out of nowhere. Nick has absolutely no history of medical problems like these. Aside from the grind of touring life, Nick lives as healthy a lifestyle as anyone. We have all seen him running, climbing, and jumping on stages all over the country, occasional yoga, hiking, etc.
“Nick’s fiancé, Lianna, and his family have been at his side the entire week. Providing as much love and comfort as humanly possible. Keeping us updated as we all continue to navigate this whole ordeal.
“If you had the opportunity to know Nick, you know he has always been loving, compassionate, and would do anything and everything he could to care for his friends and family. No matter what the situation he would always be there to talk and be leaned on offering any support and comfort he could. We can’t put into words how much Nick has done for the three of us, how he continued to inspire and push us to our greatest potential. Nick lives and breathes for what we do, and has impacted the lives of many with his love and art.
“Now is the time to help our brother. While the doctors and hospitals are still trying to narrow down what causes his symptoms and bring him back to normal health, the medical bills stack higher and higher. It may take some significant time to recover from this as we are still getting more details. We wanted to start this campaign to get a step ahead of the matter, so he may focus on his health and returning to normalcy without the stress and burden of a massive amount of debt piled against him.
“We know this is rough to digest, but we will all get through this together. Moon Tooth is family, and we will do whatever it takes to take care of one another. We love you, we’re here for you, and as always, we greatly appreciate your support.
“-Vin, John, & Ray”
Moon Tooth released their third full-length, Phototroph, earlier this year. The album is available for purchase via their Bandcamp.
