Drake White Reveals He's Still Recovering and Walking with Cane After August Brain Hemorrhage
Nearly every morning since Drake White nearly collapsed on stage on a scorching-hot Virginia night this past August, the country star and his wife Alex have taken the time to sit down together. After some devotion time, they contemplate the days ahead of them — days that are now filled with doctor’s appointments and therapy sessions, days that lie in front of them that are still a bit uncertain.
And then, they pray and thank God.
“I never thought I would have to go through something like this, but now I know why and it’s mind-blowing,” White, 36, told PEOPLE during a recent interview. “I know what He’s doing in my life. This has been transformative in terms of my faith. Everything is going to be better after this.”
He paused for a moment, and then continued. “It probably makes people roll their eyes, but we choose to make the best out of this damn situation.”
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Indeed, it’s this attitude that has driven Alex and Drake since January of this year, when White was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), an abnormal tangle of arteries and veins in the brain that disrupts normal blood flow. Earlier this year, White would undergo a series of surgeries to untangle those arteries and veins. That is, until this past August, when the Alabama native collapsed 15 minutes into his set at a concert in Roanoke.
“I felt a sharp pain in my left side and went numb,” recalled White. “I was pulled off the stage and just remember having this unbearable headache.”
While being rushed to a nearby trauma center, the “Livin’ the Dream” singer called Alex, 34, to tell her the crushing news.
“I told her I felt like I was dying,” White remembered. “She drove all the way here from Nashville with that info. It took her seven hours to get there. And those first 48 hours were very critical. I was being watched very closely. It was a crucial, life and death sort of thing.”
White would soon be diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage, possibly connected to the treatment he had been receiving for the AVM. He was transferred to a Nashville hospital where he spent 30 days before returning home to begin his fight to regain the movement he lost on his left side following his collapse.
“I would say I’m at 75 percent in terms of my recovery,” said White, who now walks with a cane when he leaves the house. “It’s actually a funny story — Alex had gone to Walmart and got me a cane. But then [when] we went home for Thanksgiving, my great-grandfather had this cane that he carved himself — it has an eagle head at the top. I’ve seen it my whole life.” White has been using the family heirloom since, but hoped to “be ditching the cane in the next six weeks.”
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White has also undergone speech therapy.
“Cognitively everything looks good,” White told PEOPLE back in October. “That has been one of my biggest fears through all of this — not being about to think, my brain not working. Luckily that hasn’t happened. If I work hard, hopefully nothing will be permanent.”
White is also working hard to relearn how to play the guitar, something that is now quite difficult due to the numbness in his left hand.
“[The guitar therapy] is going good,” said White, who underwent his sixth and hopefully final embolization procedure on Tuesday. “I’m just still working on that left hand. My ring finger and pinky are okay, but my pointer, my bird finger and my thumb still has some numbness to it. But I’m grabbing the neck of the guitar and holding it and trying to form the chords. It will be fine.”
Indeed, White’s positiveness about the situation at hand has never left him. But even he will admit that he has had his share of tough days.
“[Alex] has seen me throw my cane across the room and punch a hole in the wall,” he admitted. “And through it all, she has dealt with everything with compassion.”
And thanks to that support and compassion from Alex along with their loyal friends and family, White seems driven to reach his ultimate goal.
“No one can guarantee anything in terms of neurological stuff,” he said. “But no matter what, I’m getting back on that stage in front of those people. I 100% believe that. I need those endorphins and the euphoria that comes from being on that stage. I’m going to play a show, whether that’s 2020 or later or two hours from now.”
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In fact, White is working on a new album.
“I have a very real concept of what I want it to be and the art and everything,” he explained. “I’m really excited. I have so much time to sit now, so I have had time to process and think and observe more than in the past. I’ve been nonstop emailing and texting management. I have to be driving them crazy! But here I was, a guy that was out there 300 days a year. Now I’m someone who is sitting down writing poetry and writing songs. Music is just flowing out of me right now.”
And while White said that he hopes for the AVM to be gone by the end of the year, there will be much medical follow-up in the months ahead.
“After the final surgery, I will go back every two months for an angiogram where they will look at the area where the AVM was and make sure it’s still clear,” he said. “I will do that for six months, and then I will be checked every six months for the next two years.”
And as White has done in the past, he will cling to his faith through it all.
“I mean, what do you cling to when you can’t feel your left side? You go to your roots and your faith and your training,” he explained. “I’m thankful for my upbringing. As tragic as this all has been, it forces you to look at everything differently. I haven’t been still my whole life. But now I read. I sit in silence. I listen. I observe. I think about my voice and my fingers and I watch the seasons change. It’s a beautiful thing.”
