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Author Topic: POSSESSED Legend JEFF BECERRA 'Gravely Ill'
pppaaaüüülll
VoivodFan
Member # 13

posted September 23, 2008 06:55     Profile for pppaaaüüülll   Email pppaaaüüülll     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
NOW THIS NEWS SUCKS

Sole remaining original member Jeff Becerra (vocals) of the reactivated California death metal pioneers POSSESSED became very ill while touring in Europe. The group, now featuring Becerra backed by members of California's SADISTIC INTENT, was playing shows on the European continent in preparation for Norway's Hole In The Sky festival, which took place August 27-30 in Bergen, Norway.

Jeff has been wheelchair bound for more than 18 years — ever since he was shot and paralyzed in a street robbery. A pressure sore became infected on the trek, which was described as "a very ambitious tour" for a healthy person, let alone someone with a number of special needs, but Jeff felt compelled to follow the rigorous schedule. The infection spread to his bones, and soon he was unable to move. The band rushed him to a Helsinki hospital which then had him flown to Paris for medical care, but Parisian doctors did not want to deal with such a sick American and they had him flown to Los Angeles where he spent nearly 20 days in a hospital on a strong course of antibiotics. Jeff is now resting in his family's care until he can beat the illness.

Send your cards, letters and gifts to:

Jeff Becerra
c/o Dark Realm Records
8210 Firestone Blvd,
Downey, CA 90241

To show online love, go to www.myspace.com/repossessed2112

Jeff and his family will be checking the site daily.

In the October 2008 issue of Guitar World magazine, POSSESSED frontman Jeff Becerra talked candidly about the 1989 shooting that left him paralyzed from the chest down, his battle with drugs and alcohol, the early days of the Bay Area thrash metal scene and his future as a wheelchair-bound frontman for the death metal legends.

Regarding the robbery that left him paralyzed, Becerra said: "The first bullet went into my chest about six inches above the nipple, went through the lung and stuck on the inside of my spine. I put my hand up as I was going down, and the second bullet clipped the top of my ring finger off. But at least it didn't hit me in the head. So I was on the ground, and the first guy put the gun to my head and pulled the trigger, and the gun jammed — luckily for me, some criminals don't know how to clean their automatic weapons."

On performing at the 2007 Wacken Open Air festival in Germany, Becerra told Guitar World: "The show was amazing, and it was a great way for me to get back into the scene — but I was terrified, just shaking onstage in front of like 60,000 people. It was really emotional for me to be back out there, and I was really hoping that people wouldn't look at the chair and see 'poor Jeff.' I just didn't want to make a fool of myself and of the POSSESSED name — I didn't want to lose the only thing I ever was, you know?"

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trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr
trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr ta trrrrr


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tsawyerfam
VoivodFan
Member # 992

posted September 23, 2008 09:27     Profile for tsawyerfam   Email tsawyerfam     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
My thoughts and prayers are with Jeff today.

Hope he gets better.


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Head Villain
VoivodFan
Member # 524

posted September 23, 2008 15:53     Profile for Head Villain   Email Head Villain     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
This is really shit news, hope Jeff recovers soon.
The link don't work by the way

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String em up


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Head Villain
VoivodFan
Member # 524

posted September 23, 2008 17:12     Profile for Head Villain   Email Head Villain     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
Ah, now it does, nice one.

"Parisian doctors did not want to deal with such a sick American".. what the fuck??

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String em up


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Skul
VoivodFan
Member # 19

posted September 23, 2008 17:41     Profile for Skul   Email Skul     Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
yah - i fixed the link.. it had a dot at the end.

Totally sucks about Jeff. Last time I've seen a news headline with "very ill" or "gravely ill", it was for Piggy, so...

I know alot of people are pissed about the French hospital, but what about the one in Helsinki? Why couldn't they treat him there?


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Head Villain
VoivodFan
Member # 524

posted September 23, 2008 17:59     Profile for Head Villain   Email Head Villain     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
Fuck knows. Unbelievable, passing someone around like that when they're in that condition.

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String em up


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Väinämöinen
VoivodFan
Member # 27

posted September 23, 2008 19:07     Profile for Väinämöinen   Email Väinämöinen     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Skulhed:
I know alot of people are pissed about the French hospital, but what about the one in Helsinki? Why couldn't they treat him there?

Short version: listen to Metal Church - Fake Healer.

Longer version: this should probably go into the Technocratic Manipulators section, hehe...

/rant

The medical facilities in the Helsinki area concentrate on making money nowadays even though they refuse to admit it in public. There have been numerous scandals where patients have either been mistreated badly or left untreated altogether, not because the doctors are incompetent but because there are far to few around and they are acutely overburdened with work.

This is due to 'cost-effective administration' and all that crap, which in reality translates to city officials cutting tax funds from public welfare services, magically making that money disappear so that no new personnel can be hired where they are most direly needed (hospitals, police force, schools etc.). The private sector is of course flourishing as people no longer can trust the services they pay for with their own hard-earned cash. My guess is that if Jeff had had some serious bling-bling on him and a big fat insurance they would probably have taken care of him...

Dunno why the frog docs kicked him out, but I'd suspect similar reasons. After all, Helsinki and Paris, as capital cities, surely have all the equipment and knowledge to take care of almost every known medical condition. Hope the fuckers responsible get what they deserve.

/end of rant

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Tomorrow is the fear
Tomorrow disappears
Tomorrow is the fear
We are connected...


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schroeder
VoivodFan
Member # 5

posted September 23, 2008 20:28     Profile for schroeder   Email schroeder     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
FUCK that sucks. Horrible to read all that. I wasn't aware of the shooting either... DAMN. It takes balls to get the band together and do what he was doing. That certainly couldn't have been an easy thing for him to take on.

There's plenty of American Doctors and hospitals that don't want to help sick Americans either. Unless they know they're gonna get paid, they'd rather see you die in a lot of places.

It's a fucked up world we live in

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yawn


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