Guitarist Sonny Mayo, who you might know from bands such as Sevendust, Snot, Ugly Kid Joe, and (hed)p.e. has unfortunately been having a rough go of things. Mayo reveals he's had two heart attacks – in July 2016 and January 2018 – and has since been diagnosed with a genetic coronary artery disease.
Mayo has since launched a Go Fund Me to help out with his medical bills, and is asking for $33,000. As of right now, Mayo is hovering around $24,000, and gives a pretty serious rundown of everything that's been going on with him lately.
My Life Was Changed Forever
On July 21, 2016, five days after my 45th birthday, I had a heart attack. I went to the hospital and had an angiogram where it was discovered that I have genetic coronary artery disease. They found that I had four blockages in arteries around my heart. One of which blocked 90% of my right artery! They placed stents to open the blockages and I began a regimen of medications to try and prevent future blockages.
On January 22, 2018, a few days after having a severe case of the flu, I felt extreme pain in my chest and both of my arms went numb. I knew I was having another heart attack. I rushed to the hospital and had emergency angioplasty. My cardiologist determined that the flu caused an inflammatory response in my heart and arteries which then caused occlusions around two of the stents, blocking blood flow. This caused a blood clot to form and block 100% of my right artery. They placed ANOTHER stent, saving my life again. I am grateful, yet I am deeply concerned.
Forging A New Path
I am clean and sober over 16 years, I don’t smoke, and I’ve lived a plant based diet for nearly 5 years. Even with the prescribed medications and my clean lifestyle, I am still at risk of having complications with my stents due to the long term effects of the two heart attacks, arterial scarring and inflammation, and potential new blockages. My goal is to receive allogeneic mesenchymal adult stem cells to treat the damage and inflammation in my arteries and my heart. Unfortunately, the treatment is not covered by insurance.
Research is showing that allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are having amazing results in treating various ailments and diseases. Specifically for cardiovascular disease, MSC treatments show suppression of self-perpetuating inflammation (which caused my second heart attack), regeneration of heart cells, healing of scarred arterial tissue, decrease in cholesterol levels, and even prolapsed valve regeneration.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4429294/
MSCs also modulate the immune system, decrease inflammation, and stimulate overall cell regeneration.
My Life’s Purpose – Connection
I’ve been incredibly blessed to live this rad life so far. The greatest moments, when I experience the deepest sense of joy, are when I connect with others on that “next level”. You know the place. It’s within us all. Where we truly live in the present moment, and transcend fear, loneliness, and doubt. If you know me, we’ve had this connection.
We’ve had this connection through music. Whether I was on stage playing and our eyes locked, or we met after the show. Or we just listened to music together and rejoiced in sonic glory. We’ve been there together, sharing a piece of our souls and revealing how moved we are by the magic of music in our lives.
We’ve had this connection in a Rock to Recovery session at your treatment center, or at the Warrior Games. When you didn’t believe you could write lyrics and sing our original song because you’re “not a writer/singer/musician”. But we worked patiently together, and you poured your heart out on paper. Then you sang your ass off, despite the fear of what others would think, and that vulnerability transformed in to immeasurable strength.
We’ve had this connection through doGs. You asked if you could say “hi” to mine. I asked to say “hi” to yours. We smiled with the yes. The purity of doG made it so we didn’t put up any walls, our natural innocence flowed with each wag and ear rub.
Or maybe I was there when your doG was getting its shots or was going in for surgery. You saw that I would treat him/her as if they were my own doG, that they were safe.
This connection is my purpose.
Going Forward
I could “stay the course”, take the medications, and simply wait to see if I’ll have another heart attack but I feel as though I owe it to myself and to those who love me to be proactive in my own healing process. I have done extensive research (see links below) and I choose to live boldly and try cutting edge medicine. In the course of this research I have come across several people who have firsthand experience with stem cell treatments and they report incredibly positive results.
I sense this will be my experience.
It is also my hope that this will bring awareness to everyone that heart disease is the NUMBER ONE cause of death in the United States. It is absolutely preventable through diet and lifestyle. I have taken even more steps to improve my health and decrease future heart attacks and hope that anyone reading this will consider taking action BEFORE they experience what I am now going through.
Please help me in any way you can. And stay RAD!
