Leukemia-Stricken BEHEMOTH Frontman: I Didn't Expect Extreme Metal Community To Be This Caring

MetalSucks.net spoke with guitarist/vocalist Adam "Nergal" Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH earlier this week — the first interview he has given since being diagnosed with leukemia last August. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

MetalSucks.net: It's great to hear your voice again! How are you feeling these days?

Nergal: Actually, I'm doing pretty fine, thanks. It's developing. It's not like I'm completely healthy or something. But I got new bone marrow and the transplant went totally fine. The new bone marrow is accepted by my organisms. It's not [fighting] against my organisms, which happens very often in such cases. But in my case, everything is going according to plan. There have been no delays. My blood was checked every week, and now every two weeks, so actually I reduced the amount of blood tests that they've been taking. Everything is going almost perfect and in the direction that it should. There is no reason to be worried. Physically I'm getting better. Obviously my muscles are not the same, not as strong. I get tired quite easily still. It's still getting better. For example, [laughs] three weeks ago, I tried to do push-ups; I did three. Today, I did 11. That should tell you how it's improving all the time, and every next push-up makes me happy. [laughs]

MetalSucks.net: [laughs] What a relief.

Nergal: It sounds funny maybe, but when you watch movies like "Rocky" or "The Wrestler", you see the guy going down and then he still gets up and gets stronger — it's pretty much the same. It's starting from zero, from the very foundation. It keeps me striving.

MetalSucks.net: That is awesome news. Back when your diagnosis was first made public, metal people sprang into action and staged bone marrow drives worldwide. Was it gratifying to have reached a lot of people about this illness?

Nergal: First of all, I never expected such massive feedback, to be honest. Not only from friends and [BEHEMOTH supporters], but people who haven't been in touch for years. They were like, "Is there anything we can do to help?" There were plenty of people applying for bone marrow tests — you have to be tested first — and these people were trying to contribute. Which was awesome. And the metal community reacted continuously and immediately; it was massive. I've received, like, thousands of emails when the news got out, and the response to this news… there was not a single comment that was negative. I didn't really expect the extreme metal community to be very sympathetic, to be this empathetic, to be this [pauses]… caring. But they were totally into it; they were all ready to stand behind me and help me out. I didn't really need money; my health insurance covered pretty much everything. But I'd get offers from people, like "We'll collect money and send you cash." And I was like, "I don't need money, guys. But what you can do is talk to other people and raise awareness of what leukemia is. Talk to them about bone marrow donations and about [getting registered to donate.]" That's all I needed. I can tell you this now [pauses]… that it was very early after I got sick that the foundation found a perfect donor match. But we didn't want to reveal this to the public because of [the movement to help] was so awesome. The ball was rolling! And everyone was into it, so I was like, "Fuck, no! I don't want to fucking stop this!" It was madness to me! People went crazy doing anything to help. It was just awesome. I can tell you — not just to make people fuckin' cry — but there were times that I'd be reading comments and emails from people, and there were tears in my eyes. It was very humanitarian. Shit, I don't know what you call it, but it was awesome. There are lots of people who appreciate what you do musically, they fuckin' appreciate you as a person and individual, and they have faith in you. That is awesome. [laughs] It really brought back a lot of faith in human beings after what happened. I'd been very skeptical about the whole human race; I still am. There is more that pisses me off and makes me [pauses] pessimistic about the future of the human race. But now it's like, fuck, it's not all lost! There are still real humans out there that feel, that are real. That's a lesson that I'm very thankful for.

Read the entire interview from MetalSucks.net.