A tribute to Brian
Official Statement
Regarding Brian Littrell
NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT
WIRE)
--May 11, 1998--Brian Littrell
of the Backstreet Boys
has undergone his heart
surgery. He came through the
operation with flying
colors and is resting comfortably
at an undisclosed location
according to family members.
Updates on his condition
will follow.
Brian appreciates all the love
and concern that his
fans have shown during
the past few weeks. Please be
advised that Brian has
asked that in lieu of flowers,
cards and gifts, fans
should instead send a donation to
the Brian Littrell Endowment
Fund for Pediatric
Cardiology, which has
been set up in his name to
benefit other children
with cardiac problems.
Please send checks to:
Brian Littrell Endowment Fund
for Pediatric
Cardiology
St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation
P.O. Box 8490
Lexington, Ky. 40533
Make check payable to
``St. Joseph's Hospital
Foundation.''
Here's Brian's life story...all
in his own words.
"My name is Brian Thomas Littrell.
I was born on February 20th, 1975 in St. Joseph Hospital in
Lexington, Kentucky. I was born to
Harold JR. and Jackie Littrell - I was their second son. I have a
brother who's three years older then
me. We grew up fairly middle class. My dad worked at IBM;
later they were bought out by a company
over in germany. They work on typewriter ribbons, computer
ribbons and stuff like that. He's worked there ever since High School,
eighteen years old.
My grandfather, Harold Littrell,
Sr., worked there, so my dad kind of followed in his footsteps.
[Dad] enlisted in the Navy and was
in for four years. Right before he left the Navy, he met my mom.
My mom worked at a church, where I
grew up actually.
As a young boy, I ate, drank
and slept church whether I liked it or not. I'd rather be playing on
Sundays, but it grew on me and I think
it had alot to do with the way I live my life now. Ever since I
was little, I was running around singing
and being a comedian and making everybody laugh. My mom and
dad both sing like birds, so they would sing in church all the time. Ever
since kindegarden, I was always
involved in the children's chorus at church, and I was always singing up
on stage. I was like six
or seven years old when I did my first solo in front of a congregation
at the church. This is a church
that has like 4, 00 members; it would only have had about 1,500 at the
services on Sunday morning.
But that was a big feat for a six or seven year old! I'm very shy around
people that I don't know,
but once I get to know a certain person, I can relax and then I turn into
a ham. I'm very timid
when it comes to meeting people:
I kind if clam up really easy. I grew up in a house in Lexington.
My brother and I got
along - back then, three years was a lot of difference in our ages. I was
born with a heart murmur
and I have a hole in my heart. At the age of five, I was diagnosed with
a disease of the blood
and the heart; they call it a slaph infection went through the first five
years of my life without
knowing I had this heart murmur.
The way it happened was...
One day when I was five I was
riding my Big Wheel down the street and I hit this curb and kind of
flipped over and skinned my knee.
That's where the infection set in, [but no one know it the time].
When I got my Big Wheel home, I got
a cookie and a kiss from mom and I was fine. Then about two
weeks later I had an accident over
at my grandfather's house: I slipped and fell on the concrete and
kind of knocked my head really well,
so my mom was worried about me having a concussion or something.
That's when they took me to the hospital. During that last two weeks, the[staph]
infection had set in.
It's a miracle that I had [a second] accident, so they could get me to
a hospital [ and discover
the infection], because other then that I was a healthy five year old by
appearance. I never had
any disabilities; I was always able to run with the other kids. But that's
when they hospitalized me or
two months.
I remember it very well. I
used to dream about it, I have a lot of bad memories about it, because
of how unhealthy I was
and how the infection had set into my blood. I was very weak and very pale.
I just didn't have any
strength. I would have to be pushed around in a wheelchair. Eventually
I was able to push my
little IV and walk up and down the hallways.
This disease that I had is
fatal and I had a zero chance of living. The doctors told my mom and dad
to go ahead and make
funeral arrangements, because "your son is going to pass on." And my mom...I'm
the baby of the family, and it was
so hard for her to deal with . Us being big in the church she asked
for help from the church and from family,
and the time went on, I was on certain medication, but nothing
really could stop this infection . As time went on, however, the
infection started to disappear and
it went away! I thank God for that experience. I know that it was
a miracle. There's no medicine that
could keep me on this earth.
I'll never forget something
that my mom said when i wa 10 or 11: "You know Brian, when you were
in the hospital I was holding on to
you for dear life, because I wanted to keep you here with me so
bad...you're my baby and I needed you.
I finally realized that God has different means." [She realized]
that I was a blessing in her life, and she had to let me go, if it ws my
time. That night when she
made that prayer. She gave me up. She said " Whatever happens, happens,
if its meant to be." And
from then on, I started slowly to get better and recover.
The doctors told my mom and
dad that if I did live...I wouldn't be able to do anything. Coming from
a protective family, I came out of
the hospital like a rampage, because I was feeling a lot better.
It still took some time
to get all of my strength back, doing everything that I had done in the
past...being little,
it didn't limit me to anything.
My first love in sports was
soccer, and soccer deals with a lot of running. We lived right behind the
church, in the split level that I grew
up in. Our church was fairly large and they had a whole football
field. Every summer they had
a little soccer camp for kids my age and little bit younger, and I would
always try and get out there and play
with them. My mom and dad were very protective in letting me
do certain extra curricular
activities that dealt with a lot of running, though, any cardiovascular
stuff, any stress that
your heart goes under. My heart being weak at the time [my parents] were
scared. They never
let me play soccer, so I eventually picked up a basketball and I played
for the church league
with all my high school buddies. In basketball, you do as much running
as in soccer, it's crazy. Ever
since then, I really got into it, and I never had any problems. A couple
years after I got out of the
hospital, I was growing,[and my parents] slowly let me do what I wanted
to do.
Every year since then, I attended
the University of Kentucky Medical Center just one time a year. I'd
go back to the same doctors that I'd
grown up with. They were still there and they would check my
heart and do EKGs and CAT scans. And
every year they say the hole is getting smaller!!
Having that experience made
it a closer relationship with my family, with my brother, with all my
friends at church, the whole church
itself, with God. Growing up with that in mind, I stock to my guns
when peer pressure came around in middle
school to do what everybody's doing. Instead of going
out and partying, I was always at a
Wednesday church service. I'm not saying that I was the best kid
in the world, because everybody
has flaws. But it just made me a better person; I was more proud
of what I was doing.
And when the singing came along wit it, the older I got, the more I realized
that maybe God kept me
on this earth so I could use the gift that he gave me to be a singer, to
be an entertainer. [Today,
I have no physical limitations]; it's all in the past. I look back on the
experiences and I've
learned from the past and I've put into everyday life. It's just an experience
that you can't get rid
of, that you have to turn around and use to your benefit..."
