Slayer issues statement about Jeff Hanneman's cause of death.

Slayer: Guitarist Hanneman died of cirrhosis

It appears that early speculation about a spider bite has turned out to be in error.. I start this thread to simply inform and help spread information to those I know care and were touched by the work and efforts of Jeff Hanneman, as well as Slayer as a group.

The guitarist died last week at a hospital in Hemet, Calif., at age 49. It was initially theorized that Hanneman's death might have had something to do with a suspected spider bite that led to a case of necrotizing fasciitis, nearly costing him his arm.

The band disclosed Hanneman's cause of death on its website Thursday, and a publicist said Friday the determination was made by his attending physician. She did not know the doctor's name.

Source

Alas, no conspiracy seems to be involved and the cause of death could fairly be called a result of a life hard lived, while I am sure he'd have agreed, well lived. My personal taste in music has tended to shift over time but some bands and their music have always held places in my library. Slayer is certainly among them.

RIP, Jeff.

It's crazy..

I drank like a fish for almost 30 years. Literally to the point of utter neglect of everything.

Yet my stupid liver is fine. So say all the tests... I could not work out to what extent someone must live to develop such a chronic disease, as there simply was no lower I could go.

And yet someone who obviously lives a sex, drugs and rock and roll life, who is likely coming out the other end of it, has no idea of the problems within... I mean, he just wasn't aware of it..

I was absolutely sure of it..

I don't get it at all...

This kind of saddens me on two levels. First, Slayer has been part of my own life soundtrack since the time I was about 14 or 15 years old - so there is that strange sense of connection that comes from such things. Secondly, in 1996 my own father lost his life due to sepsis, from cirrhosis, from alcoholism.

I'm sure there is a meaningful conversation to be found in it all somewhere... a dialogue about the dangers of self-medication or maybe a discourse upon the dangers of a society where stressors exist in such constant and powerful ways, 24/7/365. Sadly, other than in the abstract, I just cannot focus in upon it right now.

S&F Wrabbit and RIP Jeff