Zac Brown Band's John Driskell Hopkins is speaking about his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He's been "chasing the clock" ever since.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Speaking with Fox News, Hopkins says that he is trying to stay active and live life to the fullest while he still has control of his body.
"I'm almost busier now than I was before. Because I'm trying to get so much done. I'm tryin' to fit it all in," he said. "I'm taking more family vacations - I'm in the studio more than I should be - I'm still on tour with Zac Brown Band right now. You know, my fingers work. My voice works. It's been compromised, but most of the set, no one would notice. And I'm playing different things on stage, but they still make sense."
Hopkins is also trying to delay the progress of his condition.
John Driskell Hopkins Talks ALS
"You know, I'm chasing the clock more than I ever have been," he continued. "And what I worry about is that that is causing me stress, which might be exacerbating my condition. So it's a bit of a catch-22, you know, I've created. I hope that my progression continues to be slow and that I can sing for a long time, but who knows?"
Hopkins has been battling ALS since 2021. The singer has already survived the average life expectancy for the disorder.
Previously, Hopkins revealed the symptoms he felt before his diagnosis.
He said, "One of the things about this double-time strumming in bluegrass is, once you get into that, it's second nature. And, when my right hand was giving me grief and wasn't able to do that double-time strum, I was still playing more of the mid-tempo rock stuff with no problem. But, once in a while we do get into that fast bluegrass thing and I was having trouble, even as early as 2019, and I was noticing that I wasn't able to jump and run across the stage, and I've always been very active and known for jumping with Clay. We have this moment in our song Free where we both do this synchronized jump and, at one point, I fell, and it was all kind of funny, but, in my mind, I'm thinking, 'Man, I didn't land right. My balance is off.'"
He visited a doctor. Hopkins explained, "My primary care physician, and he looked at my walk and did some of the things that the neurologists have done and said that he wanted to rule out ALS, and that's when it was ruled in. That was December 21st, 2021."
