Very sad news today from Ernie Thacker.
He has just been informed that the surgery he had been anticipating to spare his life from an aggressive bone infection can not be performed. The news was already dire, given that a double leg amputation was offered as the only hope to stop its spread, but now pre-surgical testing has shown that the infection has already invaded the rest of his body, rendering further treatment futile.
Ernie created this emotional video to share this news with his many friends and fans personally as he prepares to exit this world. If you react strenuously to such information, you might be cautioned not to watch. It is deeply sad and tragic.
Thacker has been a favorite in the bluegrass community since he was a teen playing with Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys. His own promising solo career was cut short by a serious auto accident in 2006 that left him paralyzed from the waist down, and with substantial internal injuries. As anyone who helps care for a wheelchair bound patient knows, such folks are subject to all sorts of parasitic infections, like the one that will take Ernie from us.
Donations such as he requests in the video can be sent to the bank where a fund is established.
New People’s Bank
c/o Theda Viers
PO Box F
Haysi, VA 24256
God bless and keep you Ernie Thacker for all the joy you have shared with us in this life, and may He protect your family in your absence.
