Country Star Survives Stroke, Shares Faith-Fueled Comeback

A life-threatening medical emergency nearly ended the career of 🎤Drake White — but years later, he says the experience reshaped everything from his outlook on life to his faith.

According to Fox News, the 42-year-old artist is now back on tour, sharing stages with Riley Green, but the road back began with a terrifying moment in 2019 that unfolded mid-performance.

Before that day, White had been diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a rare brain condition. After undergoing four surgeries, he said doctors believed the chances of a rupture were less than 1%.

Still, the risk became reality while he was performing in Roanoke.

“We just took the stage in Roanoke, Virginia. It was probably 98 degrees and cotton candy skies, beautiful, 2,500 people out there. And I tore into three or four songs, and I just felt a tick,” White said. “And I felt my left arm, my fingers tingling, kind of numbness. And then I heard a, I call it a gunshot. It literally sounded like an audible gunshot behind my left ear. And when it snapped, if you look at the video back, you can see me trying to push through it.”

“I grew up in Alabama, where you just kind of keep pushing, keep going, and I tried to do that, and I couldn’t speak,” he continued. “I couldn’t think, and the cotton candy sky became the grass, and the grass became the sky. Everything flipped upside down… Everything slowed way down, and it just felt like I was walking in quicksand, and everything was heavy. My left arm was heavy, my left foot was heavy, and I knew right then, I was like, ‘Well, dang, I’m having a 🩺Stroke.'”