Hip-hop pioneer Andre “Doctor Dre” Brown has suffered another health setback in his battle with diabetes.
The former Yo! MTV Raps co-host recently had a leg amputated and his family started a GoFundMe account to help with the medical costs.
Dre, 56, told Rolling Stone in a Nov. 25 article that this latest medical challenge started on Memorial Day, when he slipped and fell down a flight of stairs at his sister’s house. He suffered an injury to his right ankle, and later developed a life-threatening infection.
“The infection that was in my feet had started eating away at my bones,” he told the publication. “If I had waited another day, I’d have been septic, and I could’ve died.”
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Doctors amputated his leg below the calf. He was fitted with a prosthetic and underwent physical therapy.
Dre developed diabetes around a decade ago. As previously reported, the music insider revealed last year that he had lost his sight.
“I’m a type 2 diabetic who’s lost his vision,” he said in an interview with ABC 7 New York. He told the TV station diabetes wasn’t the only contributing factor to his vision loss.
“I had my retinas reattached, so I didn’t really go blind just from the diabetes, but in the reattachment I have what you call scar tissue behind my eyes, so when that kind of fluctuates, my vision comes back,” he explained. “It fades out, then it comes back.”
The Long Island native rose to national prominence when he co-hosted groundbreaking Yo! MTV Raps with Ed Lover from 1988 to 1995. The show, which originally launched in 1987 with Fab 5 Freddy as host, introduced fans to their favorite artists. Dre was also a co-founder of 1980s rap group Original Concept, and a DJ in New York and Los Angeles.
Despite his recent health challenges, Doctor Dre remains positive about life.
“I’m very blessed and sometimes, a loss is a plus,” he told Rolling Stone. “I’m a very spiritual man. I’m a very God-fearing man. And if this is the master plan, then he’s done what he wants to do. It’s out of my control.”
