Deryck Whibley talks recovery a year after alcohol almost killed him

A year after his heavy drinking nearly killed him, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley is on the mend.

“The doctors said I was lucky to be alive and that there was still a chance I could die,” the 35-year-old told Vice’s music blog Noisey.

Last May, Whibley announced on his blog that he’d spent the past month in the hospital because of his rockstar lifestyle.

“The reason i got so sick is from all the hard boozing I’ve been doing over the years,” he wrote in a blog post that included a picture of him in a hospital bed. “It finally caught up to me.”

Avril Lavigne’s ex-husband said he’s still re-learning how to walk normally, and that despite all damage he did to his body, he got off relatively easy.

“I do look back and think about how much worse it could have been,” he told Noisey. “I could have had way more health problems than I had, but my liver is fine! Everything shut down before any more damage could happen. To walk out of there alive, without cirrhosis or needing transplants, you know, it could have been worse.”

Whibley also said that if he had to go through his trauma, he’s glad he did so now rather than when he’s older.

“I’m glad it happened now and not when I’m like, 50, because my body wouldn’t have been able to handle it,” he said. “But it’s unfortunate that it had to even come to that. However, now I’m feeling better than I’ve ever felt. I’m healthier. I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m more productive. Well, I was always really productive, but I was just good at being a functional alcoholic.”