LYNYRD SKYNYRD's JOHNNY VAN ZANT Says A Noncancerous Mass Was Found On His Youngest Daughter's Brain

LYNYRD SKYNYRD singer Johnny Van Zant has offered more details about the "sudden emergency illness" which caused the cancelation of several of the band's concerts.

On Tuesday (September 24),the legendary Southern rock group announced that it was scrapping its show scheduled for that night in Anchorage, Alaska. The band cited a "medical emergency" as the reason and added that Van Zant had learned his daughter was undergoing emergency surgery.

On Wednesday (September 25),LYNYRD SKYNYRD announced that it was calling off four additional shows, explaining that Van Zant's daughter "had a sudden emergency illness" and that he had "left the tour to be with her while they continue testing, diagnosis, and treatment."

On Thursday, Johnny took to his social media to share a video in which he elaborated further on the situation his family is facing. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Hello, everybody. Johnny here coming to you on a wet, soggy day in Jacksonville, Florida. And hey, first of all, I wanna thank you all for saying prayers for my family. I did not announce my daughter's name because she's very private and I didn't wanna put this out. So I just asked for you guys to say a prayer for my daughter. In saying that, I think a lot of you know that it's my youngest daughter, Taylor Marion. She is named after my mom with the Marion part. And a couple of days ago, Taylor started having numbing feeling on her right side. She went to the emergency room. They did a CT scan and they found a — the only way to say it is a mass on her brain. And some of it was bleeding; that was causing the numbing part. In saying this, we've had her with a great urology team and doctors and a group of doctors. And they don't think it's the 'C' word, so that's a good thing. But they're still doing a lot of testing and we're not out of the woods yet, but we're in a lot better position than we thought we were in, in the beginning. And, so, keep saying the prayers for Taylor. I can't thank you enough. It means everything to me and my family."

He continued: "And I got another one here. When it rains, it pours. It's raining on my truck right now. I'm sitting in my truck, fixing to go into a place. My bus driver, who's been out with me, well, for the last couple of months — we were gonna play Anchorage, and our buses went over to Utah. And, actually, Brad, from what I hear, was going to go on a little scooter to go get a card for my family, and he wrecked the scooter and hit his head. He is in the ICU. Brad Gibson is his name. And I wanna get Brad back on his feet, along with Taylor. So if you guys could say a prayer for Brad and his family. He has a lovely family, a young daughter. I just met 'em in Alpharetta. Great family. And he's been an awesome driver for us and just a good, good guy. And a really freak accident. And if you guys could say prayer, prayer, prayers for him.

"You know, the 'D' man tries to get you in every way whenever you start spreading his word," Van Zant added. "But we ain't gonna let him. We're gonna fight him to the end. All he wants to do is cause us trouble and harm us. So think about that. And I'm not gonna let it happen. I'm gonna fight it all the way with Jesus Christ.

"But hey, I'm gonna tell you this, 'cause that's what I'm doing now, and I always tell you guys to, I'm gonna look up myself, always look up. So you guys do the same.

"God bless you all. And thank you."

This past July, LYNYRD SKYNYRD guitarist Rickey Medlocke told Joe Rock of Long Island's rock station 102.3 WBAB that he and his bandmates have been talking about making a new LYNYRD SKYNYRD record as a tribute to the group's late guitarist Gary Rossington.

If a new LYNYRD SKYNYRD album materializes, it will be the group's first since 2012's "Last Of A Dyin' Breed". The band released a single, "Last Of The Street Survivors", in 2020.

"Last Of The Street Survivors" — which shares its name with what was the time of the song's release supposed to be LYNYRD SKYNYRD's farewell tour — was penned by Rossington alongside Van Zant, Medlocke and songwriter Tom Hambridge, and found the Southern rockers reminiscing about their career and the bandmates they lost.

After four SKYNYRD members were killed in an October 1977 plane crash, Rossington recruited Johnny to fill his brother's shoes a decade later.

Rossington was the last surviving founding member of LYNYRD SKYNYRD. On March 5, 2023, his bandmates announced the news of his death in a statement shared on their social media.