Iconic Detroit techno artist Juan Atkins recently released his first full-length as Model 500 in sixteen years and was scheduled to perform this Saturday, March 14 under that alias as part of the Adelaide Festival in Australia. Unfortunately, he was forced to cancel that appearance at Unsound Adelaide (the specific event) due to undisclosed “life threatening health issues,” which organizers revealed late last month.
Now, Atkins has disclosed the full details of his health via his Facebook page. The post, which can be viewed in full here, indicates that the artist has been suffering from total kidney failure caused by diabetes for the past few years:
Juan has been traveling with all necessary equipment to carry out ambulatory peritoneal dialysis on the road. Until last weekend the procedure had been working fine, but unfortunately that was not the case Friday the 27th of February. During the flight from Detroit to Frankfurt Juan began to feel bad and his condition was so grave that he required emergency medical assistance immediately after the aircraft was landed in Frankfurt due to his life-threatening medical condition.
At this point many would have chosen to go back home and cancel all three performances of the weekend, Berlin, Thessaloniki and Milano. However after the medical treatment at the Frankfurt airport, Juan decided to take the next connection flight and make it to Berlin. Upon arrival in Berlin he was felling better, but after a couple of hours he relapsed again needed medical attention. His condition was so bad that he couldn’t perform at Tresor and had to stay at his hotel to receive medical assistance.
The statement ends on a hopeful note, mentioning that Atkins is “totally out of risk but will need some rest and time to finalize his treatment.” Detroit Music Magazine wishes Juan Atkins continued good health.