Here’s an interesting story about meeting Eddie Van Halen, sent by VHND reader, Edward B. Fohrman, M.D. We hope you enjoy it.

It’s been almost ten years since my encounter with Eddie, but I remember it like it was yesterday…

I was “moonlighting” in an 8 bed ER in “the valley” while still a resident at UCLA. It started out a quiet, but steady night. The nurse handed me the chart for the next patient I needed to see. I looked at the name and saw that it read “Edward Van Halen”!!! I looked back at the nurse and she nodded and smiled…”Yeah, it’s him.”

Living in Los Angeles, I wasn’t much for being star struck, but Eddie was someone who I really had trouble hiding my excitement about. I was a keyboard player in high school in the late 80′s. Keyboards weren’t exactly the coolest instrument around, but when 1984 came out that all changed for me. I played by ear and learned every part. Eddie’s new exploration into synthesizers made me far more excited to be the keyboardist in my band…the solo in “Jump” and “I’ll Wait” were my favorites…

So, I walked into the room and met my patient while maintaining all sense of professionalism I could muster, trying not to give away the fact that I was treating one of my childhood heroes. Due to the strict rules (HIPAA), I can’t say what he was treated for, other than the fact that he needed to be treated for a minor injury.

I remember ordering a million dollar work-up including a CT scan just to be sure everything was okay…I was sure my medical career would be quite short if I ended up discharging Edward Van Halen only to read some crazy headline about how I missed a diagnosis and he ended up dead or something!!! Eddie was walking with a cane after having hip surgery. I asked him what happened…his answer was classic – “Thirty years of Rock ‘n’ Roll, man.”

While awaiting the official report from the radiologist, Eddie asked….

Click “Read the rest” for the rest of the story…