Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Leah Shapiro Announces She’s Having Brain Surgery

Leah Shapiro, drummer for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, confirmed in a very public fashion that she’s about to undergo brain surgery.

The drummer for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club revealed on the bands Facebook page earlier today that she will be undergoing surgery for “structural defects,” known as Chiari Malformations, that were found in her brain. According to the statement, Shapiro began feeling tingling and numbness in her hands and pains in her neck. Feeling that these symptoms were “unusual even for a drummer,” she decided to have a doctor examine her to see if anything was wrong. It was determined that the drummer had CMs in her brain, which directly affect areas of the brain which control balance and coordination. Though the CMs are treatable, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has had to call off the remainder of their tour as a result of the drummers absence. Despite the seriousness of the abnormalities, Shapiro herself remains optimistic that she will be back on the road soon.

We wish both Shapiro and Black Motorcycle Club the best as the treatment procedures begin.

I wanted to share something very personal with you in the hopes that my experience can help others.
A few weeks ago, I started experiencing some unusual symptoms, including dizziness, insomnia, headaches, tingling/numbness in my hands, stiff neck & pain. Even for a drummer, these symptoms were unusual for me so I went to the doctor to get it checked out.

After having some pretty exotic tests, they have diagnosed me with something called Chiari Malformations, or CMs for short. Essentially, CM’s are structural defects in part of the brain and skull which control balance and other functions, such as the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, which is the liquid that surrounds and cushions the brain & spinal cord.

CM has different causes. Some are caused by structural defects in the brain & spinal cord that occur during pregnancy. It can also occur later in life through a number of different causes. But however it happened, I’ve got it and as bad as it is, I’m grateful that they caught it now so that I can have it addressed before things get worse.

The good news is that there’s a surgical solution for it that is usually effective. The bad news is that when Rob, Pete & I tried to rehearse this week for the Moon Block Festival on Saturday, I realized that the effects of this illness has made it impossible for me to play drums. I just can’t do the music any justice right now. And so, it is with deep regret that we’re going to have to pull out of the show on Saturday. The festival site at http://www.moonblockparty.org will have information on the show. I still urge you to attend the show, as there are a lot of great bands playing there.

As you can imagine, I’m hardly looking forward to having my skull cracked open and my brain operated on, but it’s the only thing that’s going to help me get better. And while the thought of not being able to play drums for several months while I recover from the surgery totally sucks, I’m determined to make a full recovery and get back to playing music with Rob & Pete as soon as I can.

If you want to learn more about the disease I have, there are several good sites on the internet that provide information, including this one: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/chiari/detail_chiari.htm
Thanks in advance for your positive thoughts and for your understanding.

Love,
Leah/BRMC
xx