Fleshgod Apocalypse vocalist and guitarist Francesco Paoli was severely injured in a rock climbing incident on August 21, 2021, and has since undergone surgery. Unfortunately, Paoli had to have a second surgery on March 10 after his hand was not healing as expected. Paoli reports he had to have nerves replaced in his arm (from his own leg), and seems to be in pretty good spirits.
Of course, we wish Paoli all the best on his road to recovery.
"Hey everyone, after a long time I can finally update you on my recovery status.
"I perfectly know that these times bring more important issues to be concerned of, but I also know that some of you care about my situation and I promised to keep you updated. As I told you before, in consequence of my accident, I reported several injuries to my bones and muscles which I’ve been able to recover in the last few months. Besides though, I severely injured my ulnar nerve, which is one of those serving the hand region and, if disfunctional, might cause a hand/fingers semi/full paralysis and loss of muscular functionality. Usually, the hand conditions improve in the first 6 months after the first surgery as nerves self-repair when possible. Unfortunately, this wasn’t my case.
"The suspect of a nerve interruption, which medical checks evidenced lately, was real and, as I said, severe. The other day, 10th of March, I got another surgery for some extra wires removal and for a further inspection of my ulnar nerve. It came out that I had an 8 cm interruption on it, plus a huge neuroma, which is basically a cluster of scars, in the elbow area. Since this kind of issue has no way to be fixed and it’s extremely painful, there’s been no other choice than removing the dead section and proceed with a transplant of another nerve, promptly taken from my left leg. They basically withdrew 30 cm of my sural nerve, cut it in three parts, made a little braid of it and implanted it in my elbow to give continuity to the remaining ulnar nerve pieces.
"This self donation, of course, is not for free, as I’ll have permanent damages to my foot/leg sensitivity, but it was unavoidable. Fortunately, it won’t affect my foot/leg motility. On the other hand though, this will bring me to a complete new life, where my hand can actually improve its functionality, even if slowly, and the pain (much of it at least) should be finally gone. For instance, playing guitar was becoming a real nightmare lately. Now I’m good, in caring hands and with a pretty fast prognosis, 3/4 weeks of cast and then straight back to rehab. I really can’t wait to relearn how to walk for the 4/5th time in my life, ahah, and of course to come back stronger and perform for you all around the world! Next stop is Norway on 7th of May!
"Anyway, sorry if I’ve made it too long but I really wanted to involve you more in detail and show you how incredible science can be and how thankful we should be to those who dedicate their lives to take care of us. It’s just crazy to think that the people who did this magic on me are made with no different flesh than those who send human beings to shoot each other everyday down the road.
"It’s still impossible nowadays to quantify how much we can be the worst enemies of ourselves. Evidently some humans can just bring war and destroy while some others, instead, are able to bring life and create. I’ll always be devoted to the latter, supporting them in all the possible ways and trusting Science as my only one religion.
"In conclusion I just wanted to reassure you and invite you to be strong, appreciate life no matter what and spread peace.
"Love you all.
"P.s. All this with one hand."
