Mat McHugh, singer and songwriter of The Beautiful Girls, was admitted to hospital last Friday with suspected spinal injuries. McHugh has been touring in support of his WAVES solo album which he made available for free download to fans around the world recently.
Mat had been complaining of discomfort for a few days which became unbearable after a performance in Newcastle. He was taken to hospital where doctors diagnosed him with a massively ruptured disc in his neck and a chipped bone in his back.
Medical staff warned him that he can no longer perform in his condition and told him that his injury could see him lose his mobility if he isn’t operated on quickly. As a result of medical advice the remaining shows on the WAVES Tour have been cancelled and tickets refunded.
McHugh is renowned as a keen surfer as well as a musician. Medical staff told him that both activities have gradually lead to degeneration which hit a critical point when the disc in his neck ruptured.
McHugh has always been an independent musician, funding both his solo career and The Beautiful Girls himself. The inability to perform live removes his capacity to earn an income so donations are being sought to help pay for the specialist surgery needed to correct his injury and allow him to return to performance in 2016.
Those interested in helping Mat can go to WWW.WAVESTHEALBUM.COM where they can download the album and pay what they want to donate. Any plans for raising of further funds will be made available once final surgery dates and costs are determined.
Meanwhile Mat had this to say on Facebook earlier today:
“To be honest, I’m pretty shattered on many levels about what has happened but there are two main ones: firstly, I wanted to get out and play the songs from WAVES after the amazing response we’ve had to the album and secondly, after making the album free, touring was how I was going to earn enough money to feed my family and pay rent for the next few months.
A few people got in touch after my post last week, offering help and I think I’m going to need it – being an independent musician I haven’t been able to afford private health or other insurance which could cover me for my treatment so I’m going to have to raise what looks to me might be a big sum of money for this – more than making another album haha!
Some friends are also looking at what other things we can do or sell to raise money to pay for the operation so I’ll let you know when that gets sorted out.
I’ll get through this but right now I’m in a lot of pain and your support and all the great words I get from people means a LOT.
Peace,
Mat”
http://www.facebook.com/matmchughmusic
