Royal Pirates’s James Opens Up About Life-Changing Injury

[happydirections.livejournal.com]

Last June, bass guitarist James Lee of rock band Royal Pirates suffered severe damage to his left wrist and shoulder that delayed the group’s comeback and necessitated the guitarist changing instruments.

“I went to have dinner at a restaurant in Seoul with a friend,” James said about the accident in a recent interview. “I opened the door and looked around for my friend, who had arrived before me. Then the steel frame and glass wall crashed down on me. The glass fell on my head and the sharp frame crushed my left shoulder and wrist.”

The bass guitarist lost consciousness and was forced to have an eight-hour surgery to reconnect his wrist. The doctors had told him that he might always suffer from the pain of severed nerves and gave him the option of completely severing the wrist and using a prosthetic instead. He refused because he didn’t want to stop playing music. Due to heavy bleeding and the long surgery, he also had to receive blood transfusions until the edema in his artery healed.

As pain and post-traumatic stress persisted and it became clear that he could not play the bass, producer Jung Jae Yoon persuaded him to take up the keyboard instead. For Royal Pirates’s latest comeback, James played the keyboard instead of the bass guitar, which he had played for 13 years.

“It’s like a knife is pressing into my skin,” James said of his injury. “I can’t forget the nightmare of that day.”

His agency said, “After the accident, the restaurant attempted to have an amicable discussion through a lawyer. But how can you compensate for the future of a musician who knows nothing except music? We held back while we weren’t sure how his injury would affect his music career, but we will now start legal proceedings.”

Formerly very active in various sports, James is still undergoing physical therapy for his injury. Throughout the interview, he rolled a small yellow ball in his hand, an exercise designed to help him regain feeling in the damaged nerves. “It’s my hope,” he said.

Source: soompi | naver

i can only imagine how terrible it must be to have to give up on something you love doing so much. i'm glad to hear he's slowly doing better though.

Comments

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

This is so horrific in so many ways, I'm really glad he didn't have to give up the band in its entirety and people helped him adjust.

[missingmisnomer.livejournal.com]

He must have been severely injured and in a lot of pain if the doctors suggested cutting off his wrist altogether for a prosthetic hand. I had no idea his injury was this serious when I first heard that he was hurt.

I respect his willpower at changing instruments and I hope it all works out for him.

[initialc.livejournal.com]

I think South Korea doesn't have the emergency resources to attempt that surgery like big cities in America. Jimmy Fallon had a similar injury and his recovery was much faster. He still took a lot of time off.

[chouta-angel.livejournal.com]

It looked really bad. Like it looked like his had been completely detached from his wrist bad. I do not suggest looking it up because that's something no person should see. Makes his determination to continue with music all the more impressive (and they still sound good which is awesome). I had a friend at their NYE show at the Hard Rock who kept sending my snaps of them performing and was jamming out to them that way.

[kai-minami.livejournal.com]

I hope he can find ways to stay positive and keep going with physical therapy. My dad suffered from a similar accident and the doc said that if he didn't try as hard as he did with the pt he would have less than half of the feeling he has back today.

[evilcoc0nut.livejournal.com]

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to put my feelings into words but I'm failing. I can't imagine what he is going through. I hope he manages to recover enough to play his preferred instrument. It's so fortunate that he has people looking out for him.

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

I stopped following RP a while ago, so I only heard that he was in an accident, had no clue it was this horrendous. My gods :(

I'm glad that he hasn't lost hope and is striving to continue his dreams.

[tree-star123.livejournal.com]

omg i didn't know he was injured or the extent of this injury :((

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

He updates insta with his progress and that last pic with the huge scar...

Why is this band so unlucky ;_;

There's another interview where he talked about how it changed his views on life etc, interesting read
http://www.tnp.sg/m/music/musician-model-james-lee-calls-freak-accident-life-changing

[lycorisc.livejournal.com]

when i heard about the news i was so upset for him. he loves playing so i can't imagine being cut-off from that with no assurance when he'll be able to do it again. and to find out that it could've led to severance the wrist shows that it's even worse than what news articles suggested.

i hope that he heals properly and that he has a stable support group to lean on in times of struggle

[lechuza-yoya.livejournal.com]

but like the glass door just felt? how? Poor guy. Who else was damaged for this?

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

This article answered every single question I had about the incident: what really happened and if he was going to take legal action. I still need more information on how steel and glass just fell on him, though.

I remember when it first happened and it seemed like no big deal. But when he started posting photos of him being in rehab, I knew it was something more serious. I can't imagine how tough it must have been for him in general. h
He was so severely injured, and it could have ended his career or even been fatal for him.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Wow that's so harsh... and he's still in pain? D: D: D: D:

Props to James though for struggling through, and to the producer for having his back

[pseudo-shigure.livejournal.com]

omg. id didn't know it's this bad. hope the best thing come out of this.

[kicking-tenshi.livejournal.com]

That's so crazy. I can't imagine what his mindset was... poor baby.

Also the fact that it was something as innocuous as walking through a frigging door at the wrong time that caused it all. Trying not to trigger his PTSD must have been pretty debilitating.

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

Something like that is so random and sudden that it could happen to anyone at any time. So scary...