One of the most well known death metal guitarists, Ralph Santolla, formerly of Obituary and Deicide is currently in a coma after suffering a heart attack on Tuesday night, May 29th. He is currently recovering at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Florida.
Ralph's mother, Sue, offered an update on her Facebook page:
"Ralph thought he had a spider bite on Saturday. Went to the hospital. It was not a spider bite; it was a blood clot. Tuesday night he fell and he had a heart attack. John Rocha gave him CPR until EMT arrived. His heart had stopped but they got him back.
"His visuals are stable but he is in a coma. He is on a ventilator, but he is breathing around it. He could breathe on his own, but they do not want to add additional strain to his body. He is in a coma. That is the main concern at this moment. They can fix everything else.
"We are having as many of his friends as he can come and talk to him and play music. There has been a minimal movement, but some. It is ICU, but he is in a private room and they are letting anyone in and they can stay as long as they want. So please pray as he has people all over the world praying and if you can come and spend time with him.
"Please… he needs to get back from the place that he is in. I love you all… Let's just work on getting him out of the coma if we can."
Besides playing with Decide and Obituary, Santolla also briefly toured with Death and appeared in the 1993 music video for "The Philosopher."
We'll keep you posted on any updates.
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