Lynyrd Skynyrd has cancelled live shows after Johnny Van Zant’s daughter was diagnosed with a brain mass.
The 63-year-old frontman announced the heartbreaking news of his daughter Taylor’s health scare over the weekend after the group – whose last surviving founding member Gary Rossington died last year– axed several concerts due to a ‘family emergency’.
He said in a Facebook video: ‘First of all, I want to thank you all for saying prayers for my family.
‘I did not announce my daughter’s name because she is very private. In saying that, I think that a lot of you know it’s my youngest daughter Taylor.’
He revealed how Taylor suddenly experienced numbness on the right side of her body, with the family rushing her to the emergency room.
Johnny explained: ‘A couple of days ago, Taylor started feeling numbing on her right side.
‘She went to the emergency room, they did a CAT scan, and they found the only way to say it is a mass on her brain, and some of it was bleeding. That was causing the numbing part.’
The Poor Some Sugar On Me rock star noted after being assessed by doctors and ‘a great neurology team’, the medical professionals don’t believe the mass is cancerous.
However, he added: ‘So, that’s a good thing, but they are still doing a lot of testing.
‘We are not out of the woods yet, but we are in a lot better position than we thought we were in in the beginning.’
There has been more heartbreak for the band too, after Johnny’s longtime tour bus driver Brad Gibson was in a freak accident.
‘When it rains, it pours. My bus driver who has been out with me, well, for the last couple of months,’ he began. ‘He wrecked the scooter and hit his head, and he is in the ICU. Brad Gibson is his name. I want to get Brad back on his feet, along with Taylor.
‘He has a lovely family, young daughter, great family, and he has been an awesome driver for us. Good guy, and a really freak accident; if you guys can say prayers, prayers, prayers for him.’
Johnny insisted he wouldn’t let the devil ‘get’ him and his loved ones, and he was keeping faith despite such a devastating time.
He added: ‘We are going to fight him until the end. All he wants to do is cause us trouble and harm us.
‘So, think about that, I’m not going to let it happen. I’m going to fight it all the way with Jesus Christ.’