One of the most serious cardiovascular catastrophes that can happen to a person is a ruptured aorta. When this happens, no fresh blood gets to the rest of the body and you bleed inside your chest cavity.

This is exactly what happened to Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner during a concert in Louisville, Ky. On September 26. Priest was performing at the Louder Than Life festival and during the song “Painkiller” Richie suddenly felt bad with incredible pain in his chest. And no wonder.

At that time, he suffered from what is called an “aortic aneurysm and complete aortic dissection”. It’s bad. Very very bad. Most people never survive. Still, Richie finished the set and went to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.

Watch the video and see if you can spot exactly when it happened.

Here’s another angle. You can see the expression on her face change around 2:30 a.m.

Here’s what Richie had to say (via press release):

“Looking at footage from the Louder Than Life Festival in Kentucky, I can see on my face the confusion and anguish I felt while playing ‘Painkiller’ as my aorta ruptured and started to spill blood. in my chest cavity. I had what my doctor called an aortic aneurysm and a complete aortic dissection. From what my surgeon told me, people with the condition usually do not make it to the hospital alive.

“I was taken to the nearby Rudd Heart & Lung Center [which was just four miles away] and quickly entered what turned out to be a 10:30 hour emergency open heart operation. Five parts of my chest have been replaced with mechanical components. I’m literally made of metal now.

How did he do it? The adrenaline of playing live kept him alive.

Normally, Priest would have played a longer set but was limited to only an hour by the constraints of the festival setup. If they had played their usual set, he might have died on stage.

Damn it. What is metal?