Roger Daltrey Beat Meningitis by Giving In to It
The Who singer Roger Daltrey
recalls how he was sure meningitis was going to take his life in 2015, and it wasn't until he had quit fighting the illness that he started recovering.
Daltrey was diagnosed with the disease after becoming ill on a tour that was eventually cancelled.
“They spent ages trying to find what was wrong with me,” Roger told GQ magazine. “They took bone marrow, I had brain scans, four lumbar punches, you name it, they gave it to me. They didn’t know if it was leukemia, TB, but after about a week they told me I had meningitis, which I know a lot of people don’t come back from.”
He said that he was trying to fight it "but I was going mad. Once the brain starts to get pressured, weird things happen. I kept trying to escape from hospital with all these wires and tubes coming out of me. I was a nightmare patient. I was on Skype to some of my mates one day and I said, ‘I don’t think I’m gonna get through this’ because it was absolute agony.”
Daltrey recalled telling himself on what he describes as the “worst day” of his hospital experience, “Rog, it doesn’t matter any more, this is getting ridiculous. Think about what you’ve done in your life, where you started, could you have ever dreamed about what you’ve done in your life? All the gigs we’ve done, all the people I’ve met, all the wonderful experiences I’ve had, being in the White House, being in Buckingham Palace, where kids like me growing up, where we came from, you’d never dreamed you’d get there.”
He took some time to think about his family and friends and said to his self, “I haven’t left anyone in trouble, No one’s in debt, my wife is fine, everyone is taken care of. What are you holding on for?”
It was in that moment that things started to change. “This incredible peace came over me, and all I can tell you is that it’s like being wrapped in cotton wool, I just let go, I stopped fighting it. And within two days, I was starting to feel a bit better. It was incredible. It changed my thinking completely. I never saw any lights at the end of tunnel, but I was being wrapped in something, and it was wonderful. After that, I couldn’t wait to get back in the studio.”
Roger Daltrey has previously opened up on how he had lost his confidence while working on As Long as I Have You, and had all but given up on the project until Who bandmate Pete Townshend encouraged him to finish the album.
Roger's memoir, Thanks a Lot, Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story, is scheduled to be released on October 23 and is available now for pre-order at Amazon.com.
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