In December 2013, Slipknot parted ways with founding member and drummer Joey Jordison. The reasons behind this surprising split were never revealed, although Joey made it very clear that he did not quit the band. However, on June 13th, Jordison took the stage at The Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards in The UK to receive the Golden God Award. During his acceptance speech, Joey revealed that he had been battling a serious medical condition (his appearance in the video below begins at the 16:30 mark).

Jordison said, “Towards my end of my career in Slipknot — and I want you all to give them praise as well. We accomplished a lot in life, every one of them, and I wish them nothing but luck and the best of praises. What we created, in the basements of Des Moines, Iowa, will never be matched. It’s one thing that’s fucking absolutely fucking unbeatable. I love those guys very much.”

“Towards the end of my career in Slipknot I got really, really sick with a horrible disease called transverse myelitis — I lost my legs. I couldn’t play anymore. It was a form of multiple sclerosis, which I don’t wish on my worst enemy. I got myself back up, and I got myself in the gym and I got myself back in fucking therapy, to fucking beat this shit. And, if I could do it, you could do it. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, more than fucking anything. To people with multiple sclerosis, transverse myelitis or anything like that, I am living proof that you can fucking beat this shit.”

Transverse myelitis is a neurological condition which causes inflammation in the spinal cord, damaging nervous fibers and dulling electrical conductivity in the central nervous system.

Metal Hammer recently caught up with Jordison, who revealed he is open to discussing his return to the Slipknot line-up:

“Honestly, I’m not trying to be dramatic, but if that was brought up, what I’d want to do would be to get together. I’d want to see them, just hug it out and feel that energy that we had when we were fucking young and hungry and all that shit. They’re my brothers. We’d hug and talk and do shit like we used to do. We used to sit up all night along planning this shit and what we wanted to do. So that’s how I’d wanna do it. It’d have to be in person. If it happened, that would be fucking awesome, but only time will tell.”