Zac Brown Band's John Driskell Hopkins fights ALS diagnosis: 'Crying sucks'
foxnews.comJohn Driskell Hopkins, or "Hop" to his friends, knows his ALS diagnosis is no laughing matter – but that's not stopping him from maintaining a playful perspective on life.
Hop shared his ALS diagnosis with fans in May 2022. In the year since, he continued touring as a founding member of the Zac Brown Band, recorded more music and started the Hop On a Cure nonprofit dedicated to not only funding research of the disease but also creating a community for people living with ALS. "I had one lady ask me … she was diagnosed right around the same time," Hop remembered. "She said, ‘How come you’re not crying all day?' I'm like, ‘Crying sucks.’ You know, I've done my share of crying, and I know I don't want to." He added, "And I'm full of sh--.
I'm always making jokes. I'm not going to make light of this, but I am going to poke fun at it and at my expense." Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is named after the former New York Yankee great who was forced to retire in 1939 due to the debilitating disease.
Gehrig played for the team for 17 seasons and retired at the age of 36. He died two years later. "I want to remember that I'm a songwriter and a musician, but it's difficult to sit up here and carve away all day when there's so much going on," he said. "But, I'm accepting it.
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