AllRespect.com // Injured Madina Lake Bassist Is In 'Tenuous Situation,' Brother Says

Posted on 2010-07-08 03:00:11
Artist/band(s): Madina Lake [FB]

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1643153/20100707/madina_lake.jhtml

'Honestly, it's like walking on glass,' Nathan Leone says of brother Matthew, who was seriously injured in assault.By James Montgomery

Matthew LeonePhoto: Steve Thorne/ Getty Images

More than a week after he was badly beaten and left unconsciouson the streets of Chicago, Madina Lake bassist Matthew Leone has been discharged from the hospital and is resting at his brother — and Madina Lake frontman — Nathan's apartment.

But obviously, he's still far from a complete recovery from the attack — which happened after he attempted to intervene in a domestic dispute and left him with a broken nose and jaw, a fractured skull, and hemorrhaging so severe on his brain that doctors were forced to remove a third of his skull. And now, with a second surgery scheduled for July 16, the responsibility of keeping him stable largely rests on Nathan Leone's shoulders.

And, as Nathan told MTV News on Wednesday (July 7), things are still very much touch-and-go.

"Honestly, it's like walking on glass, because I have to make sure absolutely nothing happens to him, have to keep him safe and protected and healing, and then, there's the brain surgery, with all the risks of that," Nathan said. "It's a very tenuous situation. He can't roll over, can't really rest the side of his head on anything, and he can't get up and walk around, even though he very much wants to. He spends most of the day right in the middle of my bed, so he can't roll off at night. I've been sleeping on the couch."

Leone said that Matthew is awake, aware and speaking — "It's not anything profound," he chuckled — and that right now, the main focus is just making sure he remains comfortable and safe until his surgery, at which point, doctors will attempt to re-attach the portion of his skull they removed.

"He's slowly but surely getting his strength back, but it's still hard, because not only is his surgery upcoming, but any time you have a neurological trauma, the long-term effects are unknown, and can be for up to a year," Nathan said. "So, right now, it's a situation where we have all this time until the surgery, and you're holding your breath that everything is stable until then. Then you need that surgery to go perfectly, and from there it's another four to six weeks of recovery. So hopefully everything goes as well as possible."

In the meantime, there's still the matter of the pending case against Matthew's alleged attacker, 33-year-old Justin Pivec, which Nathan can't talk about for legal reasons ("You have no idea how badly I want to say something," he sighed), and the ongoing efforts by Madina Lake's management to raise funds to help with Matthew's mounting medical costs — efforts that have left Nathan amazed and his brother more than a little embarrassed.

"In some ways he's a shy person, and the attention that's come from this is something he's not ecstatic about, but at the same time, it's just overwhelmingly positive, and of course it makes him feel much better," Nathan said. "Everyone's been so amazingly supportive, really, I can't express what it means to all of us."

And though all of this has obviously taken up the majority of his focus, Nathan said that he and his Madina Lake bandmates met on Tuesday night to discuss just how Matthew's injuries will affect the future of their band. And, from the sound of things, they're planning to push on with Matthew at their side, as much as possible.

"We have the Sonisphere Festival coming up in the U.K., and we scheduled a few headlining dates around that, and we decided last night that we're going to commit to playing them, and we're not going to hire a bass player to fill in," Nathan said. "Instead, if it's possible, we're going to try to have Matthew record his bass tracks here, and then run them when we play live. We're not going to hire a new bass player [for the shows] ... we don't want anyone to take his place. So, if he can pick up a bass, he's going to play his parts."

Share your get-well wishes for Matthew Leone in the comments below.

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