Having taken a rather extended walk on the wild side in his day, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise, does it, that Lou Reed needed a liver transplant? Happily, the composer of “Heroin” and “I’m Waiting for the Man” was lucky enough (and wealthy enough) to get one last month, according to what his wife, musician/artist Laurie Anderson told the Times of London:

“I’ve been spending a lot of time in Cleveland [Ohio] these past few weeks . . .” the sentence begins, seemingly ushering in a less earth-shattering anecdote. “My husband had a big surgery, which went very well.”

What was it?

“A liver transplant. It’s as serious as it gets. He was dying. You don’t get it for fun.”

Anderson told the Times that Reed preferred to have the transplant in Cleveland, away from what she termed the “dysfunctional” hospitals of New York City. Can’t say I blame him!

“You send out two planes – one for the donor, one for the recipient – at the same time. You bring the donor in live, you take him off life support. It’s a technological feat.

“I was completely awestruck. I find certain things about technology truly, deeply inspiring.”

Anderson’s prognosis for her husband’s health looked on the bright side:

“I don’t think he’ll ever totally recover from this, but he’ll certainly be back to doing [things] in a few months. He’s already working and doing t’ai chi. I’m very happy. It’s a new life for him.

In April, Reed had abruptly pulled out of two performances at the massive Coachella festival in California.

Via Raw Story