Gears of War composer Kevin Riepl says in his first message since a mysterious ailment put him on life support in October that doctors still have no idea what actually happened to him.
Riepl, who has also composed music for Crackdown 2, Unreal Tournament 3 and Tetris Evolution, tweeted on October 6 that he thought he’d been “roofied” the night before, writing, “Something’s effed up. Like literally. Something knocked me out.” He was was hospitalized the same night and was on life support the next day, awaiting emergency surgery. Riepl’s wife used his Twitter account to keep people up to date on his status, but now Riepl himself has posted his first message since his troubles began.
“WOW…I have to keep this short & don’t know where to begin,” he wrote in a message on TwitLonger. “First off, thank you to everyone for the positive vibes & well wishes for me & my family. Secondly, my unexplained heart failure is baffling doctors as well as myself.”
He said his recovery has been speedy and smooth, but his rehabilitation period is taking longer than normal because of complications due to blood clots and swelling that arose during his heart surgery. “Nothing to worry about,” he continued. “This just means I’m undergoing intense physical therapy so I can get home to my family.”
At this point it seems likely that whatever felled Riepl will remain a mystery forever, and while that may be a little frustrating for the curious the important thing is that he appears to be well on his way to recovery. He also promised more details in a future update “at a later date,” which is a little vague, but under the circumstances I think we can cut him some slack. Well-wishers can follow Riepl’s progress as he posts it on Twitter.
