Former Alice Cooper Guitarist Returns To The Road
Dick Wagner recovers from a heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and a coma to play first gig in five years
Ultimate Classic Rock reports that nearly five years ago a heart attack and stroke left Wagner unable to play the guitar, and in addition he faced numerous additional challenges in the years that followed including kidney failure and a coma. His most recent medical setback occurred in January when he suffered a near-fatal blood clot.
The stroke left Wagner with the challenge of a paralysed left arm, which meant that he had to undergo more than two years of physical therapy and essentially re-learn the guitar.
"It was so terrible at first,” he explains to the Detroit Free Press. "I had to reteach myself what I already knew. It was a lot of work, a lot of stress, but I came through it with sheer determination and some brilliant doctors.”
Wagner worked once again with Alice Cooper on Welcome 2 My Nightmare, co-writing the track 'Something To Remember Me By' and playing guitar on the album closer 'Underture.'
He's currently on the road in the US with fellow former Alice Cooper/Lou Reed band member Prakash John and he's planning to write his autobiography.
"There’s a lot of busy energy. I’m just thankful to whatever higher power for being alive,” he says. "It’s a miracle that I’m here — that I was spared to do what I think I was born to do.”