MIKKEY DEE Looks Back On His Battle With Sepsis: 'My Whole Body Was Shutting Down On Me'

During a June 9 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", former MOTÖRHEAD and current SCORPIONS drummer Mikkey Dee reflected on his December 2024 near-death experience when he initially developed sepsis after spraining his foot. Asked how his health is now, Mikkey said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm fine. I've been fine since, I would say, March last year. I did have a huge scare. I got caught with sepsis, and my right foot was swelling up like an old Christmas ham, you know what I mean? And I had three operations on that. They had to cut open the foot and half the leg. And I was very close to losing my life there because I came in with such an tremendous infection in my body. And then there was a very big scare to lose my right leg. But I responded well to that antibiotics, and also I was strong in body, I suppose. That must have helped. I played hockey two or three times a week during that time. That was wintertime, December [of 2024], January [of 2025]. But I did spend five weeks in the hospital here in Gothenburg [Sweden], and they did a tremendously good job on me and saved both my life and my leg. And then I did a really good recovery, I have to say."

He continued: "In March [of 2025] I was declared bacteria-free, and then there was basically recovery time on that. Last year was one big recovery, but I felt great. And just to build muscle again and stamina. And we did play that one show in Mexico City in front of 100,000 people by the end of March [of 2025]. I couldn't really do the full show with my foot. I lost a lot of muscle in it and it was swelled up and stuff. So my son Marcus had to step in and do seven songs. I did, like, six songs and he did seven and kind of saved my ass there a little bit. He did fantastic. And, yeah, that was great. But today I'm doing just fine."

Asked if the doctors figured out how his sepsis was caused in the first place, Mikkey responded: "We don't really know. It's a yellow staphylococcus [group of spherical bacteria] that we have on our skin, and it's a very aggressive one if it enters your bloodstream or your immune system didn't take care of it, obviously. Maybe I had a little weakened immune system at that point, so it established itself in my body, and you get sick in days. We're talking hours. I mean, people die left and right of this shit. It's very, very aggressive because it capsule itself so your immune system can't really penetrate whatever. It's just horrible. And I got so sick so quick, and, yeah, it gave me a big scare. I was so sick, I didn't really think about it at that time because my body was shutting down on me. But later, you think, 'Holy shit, that was a close call.'"

Regarding what symptoms he had before he was diagnosed with sepsis, Mikkey said: "I think that when you get sick like this, you will have a high fever and stuff. I didn't. I just felt something was really wrong, and I got sick by the hour. And in the end, I just called an ambulance. I was turning yellow. My liver was infected of it and the gallbladder and the whole body was shutting down on me. And it was just ambulance straight up to the hospital here, one of the hospitals. And, no, today, I've gone through a lot of talking to doctors and stuff. When I was visiting the hospitals after I got well, they wanted to keep an eye on me. And I said, "I'm not thinking too much about it.' The only thing I do think about is how easy, if you get an infection, it could be just your finger... I mean, a friend of mine, she caught it off an earring… And that's pretty scary. So I tell my boys and my friends about this a little bit. Just keep an eye out for if you get a cut somewhere today."

Dee added: "I don't know — it seems to have escalated tremendously, this disease, if you will. People catch it left and right. I never heard about this when growing up. You could hear it maybe an old man, 90 years old or something, have a cut on a leg that wouldn't heal, and six months later it turned into sepsis. And it's a blood poisoning, basically. But today I hear it left and right. People catch it for no reason, really. They don't know what happened. They just had an infection, a little wound somewhere, and it seemed to escalate to something really this bad. I have no idea. I said to my doctors, 'I've played drums my whole life and basically bleeding a little bit. I cut my fingers and elbows and hands every show.' And you shake people's hands and you try to keep away from infection, but I had so many smaller infections in my fingers and hands and suddenly this shows up. But they think that this was capsuled in my lower back, this bacteria, like joints. It likes to sit in your knee joints, your ankles, your hips, your spine, your shoulders, stuff like that. That's what I understand, that it enjoys tight spaces, a lot of oxygen, and not a lot of blood. It started a party on my foot, and, boy, was that a party, I tell you. It just blew up like a small basketball."

SCORPIONS performed live for the first time in more than seven months on March 15, 2025 at the 25th edition of the Vive Latino festival at the Estadio GNP Seguros (formerly Foro Sol) in Mexico City, Mexico. The show, which was streamed for free on Amazon Music, marked the band's debut live appearance since Dee's near-death experience. Filling in for Mikkey for several songs at the show was his son Marcus.

In January 2025, SCORPIONS postponed their 2025 Las Vegas residency due to Dee's recovery from his hospitalization. Promoted by Live Nation and Caesars Entertainment, "Scorpions - Coming Home To Las Vegas 60th Anniversary Las Vegas Residency" eventually took place in August 2025.

A Swede of Greek descent, Mikkey has been known for his speed and precision since his mid-1980s stint with KING DIAMOND. After moving to Copenhagen to play with GEISHA in 1985, Dee joined KING DIAMOND, who were looking for additional members to complete their lineup. Dee played on the KING DIAMOND recordings "Fatal Portrait" (1986),"Abigail" (1987) and "Them", and continued to play as a session drummer for the recording sessions of the "Conspiracy" album (1989),after which he was replaced. He joined Don Dokken for his solo album, "Up From The Ashes" (1990),with the music videos for the songs "Stay" and "Mirror Mirror" receiving airplay on MTV's "Headbangers Ball". The band headlined their own tour, as well as opened for JUDAS PRIEST. During this time, Dee also filled in a short time playing for WORLD WAR THREE (WWIII).

Lemmy had been repeatedly asking Mikkey to join MOTÖRHEAD since 1985, and in 1992, when asked once again, Dee accepted the offer, replacing Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. Dee's first gig with the band was on August 30, 1992 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Dee has been a member of the SCORPIONS since 2016, having joined the band in the wake of MOTÖRHEAD's untimely dissolution following Lemmy's death. To date, Dee has only played on one of the band's albums, 2022's "Rock Believer".