[Bishop Eddie Long’s drastic weight loss made national headlines weeks ago.]
The New Birth Pastor has announced that he’s going through a “health challenge” that reportedly had him hospitalized last week.
The specific illness has not been confirmed, but the gossip blogger William McCray III, who broke the story, has it on good faith from a close friend of Long that he’s battling cancer. Specifically an unspecified gastro-intestinal cancer that has already advanced to stage 4 cancer.
McCray is the founder of the ObnoxiousTV blog, and doesn’t have a great reputation in the entertainment realm, (having been sued before) but he’s also been right numerous times. Again, this is unconfirmed but the source seemed to know a lot about the circumstances surrounding the illness, and certain aspects of the unidentified member of Long’s church have now been corroborated in a statement released by Bishop Eddie Long himself today.
Long’s statement reads,
I am recovering from a health challenge that I trust God to deliver me from. It is unrelated to the eating for life diet consisting of mostly raw vegetables that I am continuing, as part of a holistic approach to good health.
At this time my family and I are requesting that you respect our privacy. I truly appreciate your prayers and support for me, my loved ones and my beloved New Birth Church Family.
-Bishop Eddie L. Long
Elder April McLaughlin of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church who also serves as executive administrator to Bishop Long told the Christian Post that “Bishop Long is not in the hospital” but did not say if he ever was. She also said “there will be no other comments.”
According to Oasis of Hope Hospital a cancer is said to be in stage 4 when it has spread far away from the origin into other organs of the body.
Just a couple of weeks ago Bishop Eddie Long had blamed his weight loss on a new vegan diet, and proclaimed that he was healthy.
In the video below Long states, “I’ve been getting a lot of calls, people saying ‘Bishop, what’s going on?’ Well, I said to my congregation, I’m gonna live to be 100-years-old, maybe have a few more years. But you know what? I wasn’t gonna get there stopping by Popeye’s you know. That was my weakness, the biscuits with the honey and chicken wings, spicy and all of that,” he continued.
“You know, basically, many of us are still eating from a slave menu and need to check that. I have gone total raw vegetable, that’s right, total raw vegetable and so I’m somewhat of a vegan. And for all you vegans out there I never thought I’d do this, never thought it but I am and it’s really, really given me a lot of energy. Yes, I’ve lost weight, I don’t have the arms like I used to but they coming back but I don’t want all that weight. I want health, and I want you to know that I’m on zero medications. My blood pressure is 120/80. I used to take blood pressure pills, medication for years and all of that,” he further explained.
We’ll keep you updated on Bishop Long’s health as the facts are revealed.
