Pat Becker, the mother of guitarist Jason Becker, who suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) – also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease – has taken to social media with the following message:
“Jason has requested prayers from all you wonderful folks out there. He can feel your prayers and is experiencing shortness of breath and a rapid heart rate which is pretty scary stuff.
He has not been able to communicate his gratitude and love for all the recent donations and support, but he is so grateful to you all and hopes to get back to a level of energy that makes it possible to let you all know, personally, how much he appreciates you. We are in constant contact with his doctors and will keep you posted. Thank you all.”
Guitar legend Steve Vai recently checked in with the following update:
“Hey Folks, Jason Becker was one of those fiercely burning beautiful lights of guitar mastery before he was struck with ALS some 30 years ago. Although his potential seemed to have been cut short, his creative spirit continued to birth his inspirational music despite intense limitations. As a matter of fact, it’s my opinion that those limitations forced him to find a deeper creativity in his music and a way to bring it into the world. But today, Jason’s challenges are more of the financial kind to him and his family who have been unconditionally supporting him through it all. Please consider supporting Jason at this time through this fund raiser. Special shout out to Herman Li, who is tirelessly facilitating this campaign.”