Metaler of the month (do not try this yourself) Chris Caffery (Savatage)

Chris Caffery, lead guitarist for the band Savatage, has proven in the past few weeks that he is committed to his band heart and soul.

After getting food poisoning in Madrid during the European tour with Judas Priest, he still managed to play four shows even though his health continued to deteriorate by the day. At the end of the tour a gig was planned with Megadeth in Paris at and at the Bospop Festival (Netherlands), but before the Paris show Caffery began to bleed internally. "I already knew during the week that something was wrong," he explains in retrospect. "When the bleeding started it became very frightening." Although doctors in Paris examined him, he was not admitted into the hospital until he was in the Netherlands the next day. "I'm not very brave when it comes to doctors, but when blood, the amount of a can of cola, came out of me, I knew it was time to go to the hospital."

Dutch doctors examined his blood and found that Caffery had an infection. At this point his kidneys were barely functioning. In the previous days he ate only two meals, so along with the internal bleeding and the infection, he was also severly dehydrated.

Against all expectations, he recovered well enough to be dismissed from the hospital the next morning. "I was still bleeding though, but the doctors didn't know it. Somehow my blood test showed 100% improvement and my fever was gone. We played Bospop that evening. I wanted to be there no matter what. I would have taken the drip on stage if I needed to!"

Caffery indeed managed to get through the gig, which amazed band chief Oliva very much: "Anybody else would have stayed in the hospital. He was a true hero that night and we are all very proud of him."

Two days later Caffery returned to New York where he is resting. Get well soon Chris!