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Alice in Chains were forced to abruptly cancel their tour opener last week after drummer Sean Kinney suffered a "medical emergency." A day later, the band decided to scrap their whole spring tour, stating that "Sean's health is our top priority at this moment."
Now, Kinney is breaking his silence on the health scare with a lengthy statement on social media, assuring fans he's "going to be fine."
"Firstly, to everyone who came out to the Mohegan Sun show and was affected by the short-notice cancellation, and to everyone who had tickets to come see the band at one of the other shows, thanks for your understanding," he began the message. "It’s not lost on the band and myself that you spend money, make plans and alter your schedules to come and see us, and it’s deeply disappointing to have had this happen."
"I was very much looking forward to getting back out there and playing with the band again, and it’s been a difficult but necessary decision to make. I don’t personally utilize social media and I’m not particularly fond of my health issues being made public, but I understand that people are concerned," he continued. "When the doctors advised me against playing in the short-term, I quickly went through The 5 Stages of Grief: 1. Denial (I’m fine) 2. Anger (F*** this – I’m still going to play) 3. Bargaining (What’s it gonna take for me to hear a better diagnosis?) 4. Depression (This sucks) 5. Acceptance (This sucks, but okay)."
"I finally concluded that medical doctors with many hard-earned degrees on their walls might know a bit more about health than a musician with some shiny spray-painted records on his wall," Kinney admitted. "The outpouring of love, concern and well wishes has been both extremely humbling and very much appreciated. The good news is that I’m going to be fine and I’m going to live. The bad news (for some of you?) is that I’m going to be fine and I’m going to live.”
See his whole post below.