Las Vegas Weekly

December 21, 2008 · 8:03 AM

Breaking News: Michael Jackson reportedly needs emergency lung transplant

By Robin Leach

Michael Jackson celebrated his 50th birthday at Planet Hollywood in Caesars Palace on Aug. 29, 2008.

Photo: Denise Truscello

Michael Jackson is reported this morning to be in “a desperate fight for his life” and needs to undergo an emergency lung transplant operation!

That’s the extraordinary shocking and startling claim in a headlined “world exclusive” story from London’s Sunday Express newspaper today. Reporter Mike Parker says the sensational revelations come from Ian Halperin, an award-winning former investigative journalist for Rolling Stone.

Halperin is writing a new biography on the part-time Las Vegas resident who commutes between here and his Encino estate in Los Angeles. “He is suffering from a rare lung condition, is too weak to be rushed into surgery and may even be fighting for his life,” the author says. He added that the 50-year-old pop singer has been diagnosed with Alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic condition that can prove fatal. “He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it.”

Photo: Scott Doctor

Michael Jackson, shown disguised while watching a UFC fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena earlier this year (that's him under the black hood), snuck into T.I. to catch a performance of Mystere.

Worse, Halperin states that Michael is now so affected by the illness that he has lost more than 90 percent of the vision in his left eye -- and can barely speak. Vegas DeLuxe reported a few days ago that Michael had been seen wearing a Lone Ranger-style eye mask and a large fedora to almost completely hide his face. Apparently he’d visited a specialist before going on a Christmas gift-shopping trip for his children’s presents. Michael has been seen out in Vegas wearing pajamas and confined to a wheelchair.

The Sunday Express quotes Halperin as saying: “The deficiency has gotten worse. He has the pulmonary disease emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding. The doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping the bleeding, and that’s the most problematic part.”

The newspaper says Jackson’s spokeswoman wouldn’t comment on the claims but that Jermaine Jackson seemed to confirm that his brother is suffering from serious health issues: “This isn’t a good time. He’s not doing so well right now.”

Marlene Erven, executive director of the American Alpha-1 Association, which represents sufferers, told the British newspaper: “This is a rare disorder. There is a protein deficiency that prevents the lungs from being properly protected during the everyday act of breathing. Patients often develop emphysema and either lung or liver disease, which can be fatal.”

Photo: Luxe Life

Michael Jackson (that's him, incognito, wearing the mask) and his kids attend a performance by Nathan Burton.

Michael has planned a massive five-day auction in Beverly Hills starting April 21 to sell off thousands of pieces of his personal memorabilia. It’s unknown if he’s doing this to raise additional money or if it’s part of a settlement of a shattered $7 million business deal with a prince from Bahrain. Readers know from our earlier stories that Michael’s legal team said he was unable to fly to England for last month’s High Court hearing -- and, as a result, they agreed to a secret settlement to end the case. His lawyers have said that Michael has become dependent on morphine and the painkiller Demerol to deal with his escalating health problems.

Vegas DeLuxe will continue to monitor this breaking news story now that the intense headlines have begun from Britain and are likely to sweep across the globe. We’ll do our best to get confirmation or hopefully denial of the sad story.

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