In loving memory of Tico Torres' Appendix (1953 - 2013)

Last edited Tue Nov 23, 2021, 09:03 PM - Edit history (15)

On October 7, 2013, Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres will turn sixty years old. But he received his birthday present a month earlier -- from his appendix.

On September 10, 2013, the band was preparing to leave their hotel for the Mexico City venue where they would be playing a sold-out show. But Tico began experiencing severe abdominal pains, and they ended up rushing him to a hospital instead.

Two days later, frontman Jon Bon Jovi announced: "...Thankfully, the operation was a success and Tico is now recovering...We'd like to thank the doctors, nurses and all the hospital staff who helped...Tico sends his thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers...He even promised the doctors he would come back for the surgery right after the show..."

Well, Jon, his bandmates, and their fans owe Tico's appendix a lot of thanks, too.

That is, suppose it had decided to hang in for just a few hours more and detonate while Tico was drumming away at the sound check -- or worse, the gig itself. With his heartbeat and body temperature elevated, the attack could very easily have resulted in his appendix bursting. Would he have been correctly diagnosed and transported to the hospital in time? Were only a couple of hours the difference between the world's Bon Jovi fans sending their thoughts and prayers and their sending their condolences?

Of course, Tico is such a good drummer that it's only logical that his appendix would have natural rhythm, too. Or maybe it loved Tico so much, it just couldn't bring itself to destroy them both. Whatever the reason, I am very thankful that Tico is alive and well to perform another day -- and I will be eternally grateful to the body part that sacrificed itself to make his survival possible.