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"Hang in there. God is able."
-- Aretha Franklin to Luther Vandross
following his stroke-induced coma
April 16, 2003
It was morning as Max Szadek raced to his boss's apartment.Thoughts ran through his mind while he moved through the Manhattanstreets. For ten years, Szadek had worked as personal assistantto R&B superstar Luther Vandross, and he was on his way toaccompany the singer to the recording studio. It was a brightspring day, perfect for enjoying the eye-popping view fromLuther's new condo overlooking the lush greenery of Central Park.But there was no time for that on this day. There was too much todo -- way too much.
Like most entertainers, Luther maintained a full schedule, butthe upcoming weeks promised to be especially taxing. The singer,who would turn fifty-two in four days, needed to finish recordinghis new album to be called Dance with My Father, review tapes for a future live album, and oversee extensive renovations on his apartment.Then there were the gowns he promised to design for ArethaFranklin's farewell tour, a stint as guest judge on the popular TVtalent show American Idol, and preparation for a full slate of concertdates.
His itinerary also included an appearance at the April openingof the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, a fournightgig at the Westbury Music Fair in May, and a headliningspot at the Essence Music Festival in July. More immediately, atthe end of the week he had to leave for a lengthy promotional tourtouting the new album. The commitments were stacking on top ofeach other like a house of cards, and Max was going to tell his bossthat it had become too much for him, that things were getting outof hand.
This was Max's plan upon arriving at the apartment, but he soondiscovered that nothing that daywould go as expected. He tried enteringthe apartment, but the chain was locked from the inside. Heknocked and yelled out to Luther. There was no response. At thispoint, Max began to worry. He called Luther's business manager,Carmen Romano, on his cell phone and described the situation.
"What should I do?" Max asked.
Carmen, who incidentally had just left Tiffany's where he'dbought Luther a birthday present, told him to break down thedoor. When Max finally entered the apartment, he found Luthercollapsed on the floor. He couldn't move, but he was consciousand made two requests: one was for a glass of water, the other forsomeone to phone his mother.
"Call my momma," he said. "Get my momma."
An ambulance came and rushed him to the Weill Cornell MedicalCenter, which sits along the East River in Upper Manhattan.Upon arriving, Luther opened his eyes once. Then, just as suddenly,he closed them for what would be many weeks. Doctors examined Luther and determined that he had experienced a stroke,or what some clinicians call "a brain attack." However, where moststrokes occur because a blood vessel becomes blocked, Luther suffereda more severe, less common kind in which a blood vessel ruptures,filling the brain with fluid, destroying tissue in its path. It'sas if the normal blood flow goes haywire, traveling to places itshouldn't go and abandoning spots where it's needed. If this didn'tmake the situation dire enough, other factors deeply concernedLuther's doctors. For one, he had lost consciousness, an extremelyrare occurrence for stroke victims. This made it nearly impossibleto check for neurological damage. Second, there was the unfortunateway Luther was found. Chances for recovery dramatically increaseif stroke victims receive treatment within three hours, butLuther was alone on his apartment floor for at least seven hours beforeMax arrived, placing him in increased jeopardy.
Soon after Luther's admittance to the hospital, word of his conditionstarted to spread. Of course, this wasn't the first time therehad been grim news about Luther's health. In 1986 there werefalse reports that Luther was near death with AIDS. In 2001 it waswrongly reported that he had died from the condition. Now, sadly,the bad news reports were true. His record company issued atersely worded statement from his manager, Romano: "LutherVandross suffered from a stroke on Wednesday, April 16th. He isunder medical care and his family and friends are hopeful for aspeedy recovery." Other accounts were more graphic. A source inthe New York Daily News called the stroke "a major bleed," andadded "he may never sing again."
A stroke is the worst kind of ailment for a vocalist, especiallyone with Luther's precision and sensitivity. If the stroke damagedthe left side of his brain, it could wipe out his ability to speak. If itaffected the right side of the brain, it could impact the way he experiencesand perceives emotions.
In the days following the stroke, Luther showed few signs ofwhat most would call life. A machine did his breathing, and he wasfed by a tube. His birthday came and went on April 20, but still noresponse. By April 23, a spokeswoman said he was "battling for hislife."
Luther's mother, Mary Ida Vandross, clocked many hours byher ailing son's bedside. It was a sadly familiar scene for her, helplesslywatching a loved one struggle for life. In her seventy-nineyears, she had buried her mother, her husband, and all three of herother children: Charles in 1992, Patricia in 1993, and Ann in1999. The first two died from diabetes, the third from asthma.Now she faced the possibility of losing Luther, her youngest, thebaby. It was almost too much to bear.
"He has to recover," she said. "He's all I have left. He's my lastsurviving child."
As more people learned about Luther's condition, many of hiscelebrity friends reached out to support him.
Luther
Excerpted from Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross by Craig Seymour
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
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