Will Carroll, drummer of American thrash metal band Death Angel, has spoken out about his experience with COVID-19, including a 12-day-long coma.
Band members left and right are popping up with the virus that has caused a global pandemic. Pink revealed that she made it through the virus, Christopher Cross has been diagnosed, and we’ve lost a few of the greats, including John Prine, to COVID-19.
Now, drummer Will Carroll of Death Angel has revealed his battle with the virus in an in-depth interview with Decibel. Although the band were headed toward a fantastic year with a Grammy Award nomination in hand, as well as an entire European tour alongside Exodus and Testament underway. However, things quickly made a turn for the worse when COVID-19 swept across Europe.
Shortly into their European tour, many members of each band became quite sick, with Carroll noting that their “tour bus became a germ incubator” and “everyone was taking their turn getting sick.”
“I knew it was the coronavirus. I get colds here and there but I had a fever and aching and this intense flu. I never get sick like that,” noting that he was worried that on his way back from Europe after the tour became cancelled and that he was worried about arriving to the U.S. while being sick.
“Since we travel so much in and out of there people recognised us and just said: ‘Death Angel – welcome home!’ We looked like shit and were sweating. But since they see us all the time we got lucky.”
After that, however, their luck rapidly changed, and drummer Carroll was sent into the hospital, with him falling into a 12 day coma. Upon coming home, he recalled that his fiancee said that he “looked and sounded terrible.”
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“She said I was wheezing in my sleep and struggling to breathe. That’s the last thing I remember. I don’t remember the ambulance ride or getting to the hospital. The next thing I remember is waking up after a 12-day coma with tubes stuck in me and machines all around. I didn’t even know I was in San Francisco.”
After making it through the illness, and surviving an extended coma, Carroll was shocked to find out what had occurred in those 12 days stating that he didn’t “remember going to the hospital.”
“They were asking if I knew what year it was and who the president was. I kept asking what city and country I was in. When they told me I was in San Francisco I was very relieved. Once I calmed down I got the whole story and was asked if I remember going to the hospital 12 days ago. I guess I could barely breathe and my lungs were collapsing.”
“When they told me I was in a coma for 12 days it was like a baseball bat to the head. But it was smart to not give me all the information at once. Once I came to grips they told me they seriously thought I was going to die. That was a scary thing to hear. I was both thankful and horrified.”
Continuing with his harrowing tale, Carroll revealed that he was actually one of the first to survive COVID-19 intubation and coma, and that “doctors were high-fiving each other” at his success.
“I remember doctors and nurses coming in like ‘wow,’ amazed I was coherent and speaking. They asked me to write my name and I couldn’t even write a W because of muscle atrophy. So that’s what I’m going through right now – physical therapy to walk again.”
“By the end of May, I should be fully mobile and walking. It might be around June before I can start practicing drums again. By the time Death Angel has demos ready to go I should be able to play again.”
Check out ‘The Moth’ by Death Angel:
