STRYPER's MICHAEL SWEET Details Latest Health Issues, Asks Fans For Prayers

STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet has opened up about his latest health scares, including issues with his vision and a growing nodule on his thyroid.

Earlier today (Thursday, June 22),the 59-year-old vocalist/guitarist, who resides in Massachusetts, took to his social media to write: "Hello my friends. I'm not one to post every little detail about my private life and or my health but I do however believe in the power of prayer so I wanted to ask you all to say a few prayers for me over the next few weeks.

"First, I've had a few nodules in/on my thyroid for a few years now," he continued. "This is fairly common yet it can and will have an effect on the voice and can cause issues over time. One of the nodules (right side) has basically remained the same size. The left side however has grown quite a bit over the past few years so I'm having a biopsy procedure next Tuesday at 8:30, EST.

"Second, my left (good) eye. It had two retinal tears when my right eye detached back in November of 2021. They lasered tgose tease to keep them from tearing any more and causing a detachment in that eye. Unfortunately my vision has progressively gotten worse in that eye and now it's extremely foggy/cloudy.

"I had a check up yesterday and the good news is my right eye (bad eye) is looking pretty good," Sweet added. "Tye bad news is my left eye (good eye) is not. The doc wants to see me in a few weeks to have another look and if there's no improvement, I'll need surgery (vitrectomy) on that eye to remove blood, scarring and fluid/floaters.

"I appreciate your prayers and I'm grateful that I can ask".

STRYPER is the first overtly Christian metal band to go mainstream. The group's name comes from Isaiah 53:5, which states: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

In a 2018 interview with the Detroit Free Press, Michael said that STRYPER was never fully embraced by the heavy metal and hard rock communities, largely because of the band's Christian lyrics.

"We've never been accepted by either side," he said. "The secular side, the mainstream, they've never accepted us to this day. We're probably that band that everyone's going to go to whenever there's a time to mock. We'll be the band used for that in most cases. Now on the Christian side, we've never really had the full support of the Christian side because we don't fit into their little club. We're not wearing suits and ties and going to every church and preaching."

STRYPER's albums include "To Hell With The Devil", "Second Coming", "No More Hell To Pay", "Fallen", "Even The Devil Believes" and the band's latest effort, "The Final Battle".

Michael is joined in STRYPER by his brother Robert Sweet (drums),Oz Fox (guitars) and Perry Richardson (bass).