Chris Jericho, the lead vocalist of Fozzy, has revealed that he survived a pulmonary embolism last year while on tour with the hard rock band. It led to the cancellation of the rest of Fozzy's fall 2021 tour due to his doctor's orders. But not before the singer carried on with gigs until he said he could barely walk.
Now recovered, the rocker who's also an AEW wrestler looked back on the scare on his Talk Is Jericho podcast, where the entertainer addressed the symptoms that led to his diagnosis as the group traveled.
"During this time frame, when I was feeling a little bit kind of short of breath, I was talking to my doctor at home … who said, 'This could be blood clots,'" Jericho explains. (via Blabbermouth)
"[Once we were in the U.K.] I thought, 'Well, I'm not gonna go to the hospital in Bournemouth or Chester,'" he continues. "'Let me just wait till I get to London and we can figure out kind of where I'm at.' So we did the Chester gig, and then I had two more shows — Birmingham, where I felt okay, but I knew that we had London after Bournemouth, and that would be kind of the place where I'd get checked out and see kind of what's going on.… I remember saying after the Bournemouth show, 'I can't do another show like this. We need to figure out what's going on.'"
After seeing a traveling physician, Jericho was "really having problems walking." He adds, "About an hour later I got a call from the doctor, who said, 'You have blood clots. We can tell by the blood that we drew. You have to go directly to the hospital.' Now — pretty scary. Keep in my mind, I'm in London. I'm thousands of miles away from home in a foreign country, and now I have to go to a hospital. … They tell me very soon after, 'Yes, you've had a pulmonary embolism.' What does that mean? It means that your lungs are filled with blood clots and you are now staying in the hospital. And they went and did an ultrasound and found that there was evidence of a clot that had been in my throat."
Jericho warns, "If a clot gets in your throat, that's getting into stroke territory. And the reason why these are so dangerous is if the blood clot breaks free and gets into your lungs, you could have some serious issues. … So this is some serious, serious shit here."
Fozzy's latest, Boombox, is one of Loudwire's Best Rock & Metal Albums of 2022 (So Far). Below, see more from the July 8 Talk Is Jericho episode.
'Chris Jericho tells the whole story behind his health issue last December that resulted not only in FOZZY canceling shows for the first time but also in the formation of the Jericho Appreciation Society in AEW! Chris details the symptoms that started during FOZZY’s UK Tour that led to his hospitalization and pulmonary embolism diagnosis in London. He speaks candidly about the harrowing days of having trouble breathing, watching his oxygen levels drop, and seeing specialists to help turn his condition around. He discusses his extended hospital stay, being unable to fly before the holidays, and the hard work he put in once he was able to return home to Tampa. Finally, he talks about his physical transformation and how that directly contributed to his heel turn in AEW, teaming up with 2.0 and Danny Garcia, and launching the Jericho Appreciation Society.
Talk Is Jericho, "How I Survived a Pulmonary Embolism" - July 8, 2022
Watch: Jericho Goes Off the Record (2019)
