John Driskell Hopkins is living an incredible life with an incurable disease.
“I believe that my music is allowing me to play music, if that makes sense,” explains Hopkins, 54, in an interview with PEOPLE.
Indeed, the three-time Grammy winner and Zac Brown Band founding member spent summer 2024 traveling the country with his musical comrades and alongside Kenny Chesney on the Sun Goes Down tour, all while Hopkins continued to battle degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
“For me, keeping going is really important,” explains Hopkins, who was diagnosed with the neuromuscular disease — also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — in December 2021. “I feel like if I did sit in a recliner and played the whole ‘woe is me’ card, I would be a lot worse off.”
Nevertheless, Hopkins is the first to admit that the disease is in fact slowing him down, both on and off the stage.
“I have to play some different parts on the guitar now because my original parts were a lot faster, so I’m adjusting,” Hopkins says. “I’m not jumping on stage with [ZBB members] Clay [Cook] and Coy [Bowles] anymore, and I miss that. I really wish I could run out into the thrust and jump, but I am parked at my microphone, and they come run over to me and they never let me feel like I’m not involved. And that’s wonderful.”
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Clay Cook and John Driskell Hopkins
And for now, his singing remains unaltered. And it’s this truth-telling voice that one can now hear on “I Love You,” which is the first song Hopkins’ wrote following his diagnosis. It’s inspired by what he wants his wife Jennifer and their daughters to remember when he’s gone.
This and Hopkins’ first solo single, “Each Other,” are “about the importance of family in our lives, but also speak to a universal audience about the importance of togetherness and mutual respect,” he says. “All we truly need in this world is each other.”
It was a need that Hopkins has relied on through it all, as he says he has gained so much love and support from the fans he would see in the crowd.
“I do see Hop on a Cure shirts in the crowd,” says Hopkins of the foundation he and his wife Jennifer formed in 2022 that has donated over $4 million in ALS research grants. “I do feel the support and I do see it in their faces and on their shirts and hats, and I’m very grateful that years after a diagnosis like this that I’m still able to perform.”
Performing with a band such as Zac Brown Band also allows Hopkins to shine a worthy spotlight on Hop on a Cure.
“We’re dedicating a lot of time and energy to finding the best research projects out there,” he says. “A lot of them don’t have funding, so we’re able to fund something that costs anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 sometimes. It’s incredible to be able to help like that.”
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John Driskell Hopkins
And while the road ahead is unknown for all, Hopkins says that it’s a road that he still takes care of, ensuring that it’s as smooth as possible when it comes to his health.
“The progressions [of ALS] are all different,” explains Hopkins of the disease that is currently incurable.
“I have gotten permission from my doctors to cut a few calories, but really focus on foods that are not processed. When I look at the things that might have caused ALS in my life, I must think there’s something that I’ve been doing because I’ve always been on the road and sometimes fast food is the only choice. But generally, over the past several years, I’ve been making good choices. I’ve gone all organic and we have also gone no processed anything. It’s really frustrating, but it’s worth the effort.”
Donations can be made at www.hoponacure.org/donate; HOAC is also set up to support individual fundraising efforts. All the tools can be found at www.hoponacure.org/fundraising.
Read the original article on People
