Sum 41's Deryck Whibley Gives Health Update After Pneumonia Hospitalization

"I'm still bedridden, having a hard time breathing, tight chest pains and some pretty wild fever dreams, that I guess are keeping this whole thing somewhat entertaining"

Photo: Richard Lann

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Sep 19, 2023

Sum 41 frontperson Deryck Whibley has been hospitalized with a case of pneumonia. The news comes via his wife, Ari, who posted on Instagram about her husband's illness.

UPDATE (9/19, 1:03 p.m. ET): Whibley has offered an update on his condition via the band's Twitter/X account, thanking everyone for their love and support. Although he's "not out of the woods yet," the singer-songwriter said he's doing his best to stay positive and is hoping to be back to full health for next month's When We Were Young festival. 

"I'm still bedridden, having a hard time breathing, tight chest pains and some pretty wild fever dreams, that I guess are keeping this whole thing somewhat entertaining," he wrote. "I'm in the best hands and am on the right medicine."

 

UPDATE (9/18, 9:24 a.m. ET): The musician has now been discharged from the hospital after responding "so well" to treatment, according to the latest update from his partner. "The pressure and strain on his heart and lungs has improved and he is able to breathe without as much pain," she wrote, adding that Whibley remains under her care and that of his mother, who is a registered nurse.
 

"Deryck and I were supposed to be in Chicago right now, celebrating our eight year wedding anniversary but the universe had a different plan for us," she wrote in the caption of a photo of the couple holding hands in the hospital, the musician with a pulse oximeter on his finger. "We spent the entire night in the ER and will now be spending the next few days here in the hospital as he fights through pneumonia."

She continued, "The scariest part is that there is a lot of strain on his heart and they are telling us that there is a possibility of heart failure. This is obviously not our first time in a situation like this but it brings back a lot of really difficult memories seeing him back in a hospital bed connected to wires and IVs," referring to her husband's history of liver and kidney failure due to alcoholism.

"I know how strong he is because I have witnessed what he has been able to overcome but that doesn't make it any easier to see," she added. "I'll do my best to keep everyone updated but if you could keep him in your heart over the next few days, we could really use it."

See Ari Whibley's Instagram post below.
 
 
Back in May, Sum 41 announced that they would be disbanding following the release of a final album and an accompanying world tour. The record, Heaven :x: Hell, has yet to be given a release date, but Whibley told Rolling Stone last year that it would be a double album that sees the band return to their pop-punk roots.

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