Deftones Bassist Chi Cheng In Coma!!!!

Patricide · 05-11-2008 6:55pm #1

Just found out there that Deftones Bassist Chi Cheng is in a choma after a car accident monday night. Hes in whats said to be a serious, yet stable condition luckily.

This sucks

. Hope hes still good to play bass and it wont delay Eros!!

redenemyjoe · 06-11-2008 4:01am

Jesus, love that dude.

ShawnRaven · 06-11-2008 4:53am

I'm not a deftones fan at all, however i'm a believer that if someone's passionate and strong enough to play their chosen instrument, bugger all will get in their way.

Dave Mustaine after damaging several nerves in his arm had to teach himself to play guitar again a few years ago.

Jason Becker was 20 years old when he joined David Lee Roth's band before he was stricken with ALS which for all intents and purposes crippled his body. He still composes via a computer.

So here's for a speedy recovery for Cheng.

Sephiroth_dude · 06-11-2008 7:05pm

aw no

,hope he has a speedy recovery,good bass player.

Karl Hungus · 06-11-2008 8:33pm

That's pretty horrible new alright, hope he pulls through ok.

Passenger · 06-11-2008 11:48pm

Well all the best to him and a speedy recovery. Massive fan. Really looking forward to Eros.

Catari Jaguar · 07-11-2008 1:55am

I love that band

missannik · 10-11-2008 1:16pm

Such terrible news! Hope Chi makes a speedy recovery.

Check out the Deftones blog, I thought it was really touching...

http://deftonesinstudio.blogspot.com/

Passenger · 26-03-2009 6:02pm

Update on Chi's Condition:

21/03/09

Chi Cheng's mother has written a personal letter directly to her son's friends, fans and supporters. This will serve as a press release as it does offer news and updates on his condition. It also announces recent fundraising efforts launched to help aid in Chi Cheng's medical expenses and much needed therapy:

"This has been a difficult time since Chi was injured four months ago. He remains in a coma and is slowly waking up. The entire Cheng family would like to take this opportunity to extend our tremendous gratitude for the worldwide outpouring of prayers, love and support. You have opened your hearts and have been the blessings that have made our situation bearable. Your kind words, shared stories, doing the 'good deed of the day' (which I would love to start again), and most of all your prayers for Chi have kept us from feeling alone or helpless. There have been so many faces and names that would always show up when I could get to a computer. It was like going home to see you sharing and caring.

"There are so many special people to thank for so many kindnesses. Jeff Irwin from WillHaven asked me about doing some benefit shows. He and his wife, Alice, along with many great bands shared their time, energy and talent. In response to the questions of why a rock star would need benefit show money, let me say that not all successful people are rich and even rich doesn't always last forever. When Chi is fully awake, we hope that he won't care that his dream home went back to the bank, his dog got given away, his health insurance quit paying for hospital care after a month and a half and life might take much more effort and some relearning. We in his family think that he will have some challenges and a lot of new insight and stories to share.

"It is pretty clear that he goes in and out of his coma. Many days he seems just tired or maybe sad. Other days he will open his eyes, looking around startled, seeming not to know where he is, then finally after we talk to him , he relaxes and goes back to sleep or just looks at us. He has said "mom" to me several times. That is a huge thing. It means that he can see and recognize me, he remembers, he can think of the word that matches the image, and can verbalize it properly. It actually takes so many steps for the brain to do that simple thing.

-metalunderground.com

Apparently his medical bill is $750,000, plus as mentioned above, he has lost his house and his dog was given away. That's pretty sad for the guy but he seems to be coming around now after a few months.

Sephiroth_dude · 26-03-2009 6:30pm

poor fella hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Patricide · 26-03-2009 7:07pm

Gotta love the US health insurance system.... Poor guy, hopefully hel make a full recovery

.

ADTR · 26-03-2009 7:16pm

US health insurance system sucks!

frag420 · 29-03-2009 9:09pm

Yeah was gutted when i heard the news before xmas. Been my fave band for well on 15 yrs now. heard they have a replacement bassist(friend of band) who previously stepped in for chi a few yrs back. Would not be the same without him as he has such stage presence and some of the dirtiest bass grooves ever.

Get well soon brother Chi

Sephiroth_dude · 29-03-2009 11:35pm

did they ever play in ireland?

projectmayhem · 29-03-2009 11:40pm

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

did they ever play in ireland?

2 shows on the last tour IIRC

30-03-2009 1:26am

Really is a shame. The Deftones have been my fav band for years and as far as I'm concerned White Pony is the most important album of my generation. Really hoping he pulls through and gets back to making music.

Numina · 30-03-2009 1:29am

projectmayhem wrote: »

2 shows on the last tour IIRC

2 in Dublin and one in Belfast in 2006 for I think it was a warm up tour, since they played Beware The Water before Saturday Night Wrist was released.

frag420 · 30-03-2009 9:29am

yeah saw em twice in 2006 in the ambassador and the first irish gig in the SFX in 98 on the around the fur tour. really hope chi gets sorted soon and we get to see em play ireland again asap.

Motley Crue · 30-03-2009 10:53am

Patricide wrote: »

This sucks . Hope hes still good to play bass and it wont delay Eros!!

While that is a concern I would say that my thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of this man right now. Hopefully he is able to come out of this coma and over time move on with his life

calex71 · 30-03-2009 11:44am

from what i remember reading on the blog the rest of the band where soldiering on with the album and gigs , with the guy ( sorry cant recall his name) who filled in for Chi a few years ago.

It's not the same, i admit, but i would be 100% behind the band in thinking this is totally what Chi would want.

ShawnRaven · 07-05-2009 9:34am

Latest news on this is that Cheng is beginning to show signs of recovery. They've taken him off life support, which has to be an improvement.

frag420 · 07-05-2009 9:52am

calex71 wrote: »

from what i remember reading on the blog the rest of the band where soldiering on with the album and gigs , with the guy ( sorry cant recall his name) who filled in for Chi a few years ago.

It's not the same, i admit, but i would be 100% behind the band in thinking this is totally what Chi would want.

cant think of his name either but he is the bassist with Will Haven who are another great band. They were originally supposed to support Deftones in SFX in 98 but One Minute Silence played instead. If you like Deftones you should check out Will Haven and a band called Far.

Good to hear brother Chi is getting better. Wont be long till he is crushing us with those heavy bass lines soon.

swish

frag

AHA.............his name is mike martin(bassist with Will HAven)

would be cool to find out where he is and send a card eh??

Patricide · 07-05-2009 2:21pm

Theres a website up for donations to chi at the moment. It also keeps you informed of any progress hes making on the road to recovery. http://www.oneloveforchi.com/

Apparently there raising funds for one of those hyperbaric chambers to get him to recover faster. He almost died there at the end of april when he went into septic shock but hes back stable now.

Mushy · 02-10-2010 5:53pm

An update:

Dear Family

Love you! Love you! Love you all so much! Thank you for staying for the long haul!

There really wasn't much to report in the last blog other than about the absolutely awesome EXIT concert on August 14. There were so many wonderful people there, some of which I knew from facebook or OneLove. One of the women that really touched my heart was Roxanne. I got her phone # and we planned to have her come up for a visit. She came and has been such a joy to all of us. She is a strong woman of faith with a heart to serve. I think that she is in for the long haul too.

Chi has been comfortable with her and responds to her voice. She talks to him on and off all day encouraging him and telling him that he is going to recover.

A week ago Chi had a Baclofen Pump implanted to relax his legs and feet more, as they were always tense. Then he pretty much slept for a week, hardly opening his eyes and losing the muscle in his chest, arms and legs from not moving a muscle. Yesterday Mae called the Doc to ask about reducing the dose because he was so unresponsive.

Then in the afternoon, he opened his eyes wide and seemed to "wake up". Roxie kept telling him to lift up, try to sit up. He started lifting his arms and shoulders and head off the pillow. I was at the computer with my back to them and she called my name. He continued to try with everything that he had to lift up off of the bed. I grabbed the video cam to catch part of it. I started counting at about #6 and he lifted himself at least 25 times. It was not very far off of the pillow, but he was concentrating so hard and will continue to improve we are sure.

Again last night, she asked him to try lifting himself up. She started counting 1, 2, 3, and trying to have him pull up on the count of three. Sometimes he made it, sometimes not. But he was trying so hard and lifted about 35 times.

Gina has worked so hard for this man for so long. If she has any little shortcoming it is a lack of patience. Waiting for things to happen is not agreeable to her. She wants him to have the best and she wants it NOW!

I have come to feel like when God wants him up, God will make it happen. Of course, good care helps and getting him professional rehabilitation with the right equipment would make it much easier. I texted Gina last night before we spoke to ask how much exactly it would take to get Chi to NJ or NY and how close we were to that goal. This is Gina's department and she takes care of it. We are about a third of the way to the $100,000. to get him there.

Then we talked. When she heard what he was doing, she choked and started crying like a little girl and babbling over and over "Thank you God! Thank you God! Thank you God! Thank you for hearing me! Thank you for answering my prayers!" Sobs and Gratitude for a long time. I imagined Him smiling at her saying "You never doubted. Why are you surprised?"

When Gina collected herself she could hear Roxie coaxing Chi. I put Gina on speaker so she could talk to Chi. He always responds to her voice too. She talked to him again about "baby steps" and recovery.

I hope that you will check in often because I think that there will be much more to blog about from now on.

He is I think we can safely say now "waking up" and "actively participating" in his therapy and recovery. Now the real work starts.:) I know you will keep the prayers coming! Respect and love!

- Jeanne

cedomination · 02-10-2010 8:45pm

Incredible news.

toolfan1912 · 02-10-2010 11:52pm

Wow...this should really be told to the world to never give up on life! No matter how bleak or hard it gets just too keep fighting!

It's amazing how the human body can start to recover itself after such a horrific accident.

Patricide · 03-10-2010 10:01am

I can see it taking another 5 - 10 years before hes anyway normal again id say but this is some of the best news iv heard all week

. Glad to hear he's fighting his way to recovery. Of course it doesn't hurt that deftones have some of the most dedicated fans in the world and raised bucket loads of cash for where the american health care ****ed chi and his family over.

One love for chi!