Michael Jackson is suffering from a rare lung condition and needs to undergo an emergency transplant operation, according to a writer who is penning a new biography on the singer.
But the ailing star is too weak to be rushed into surgery and may even be fighting for his life, claims Ian Halperin, a former award-winning investigative journalist on America's respected Rolling Stone Magazine. Canadian Halperin says Jackson, 50, has been diagnosed with Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic condition that can be fatal in severe cases. And he claims the singer is now so ill he can barely speak and has lost as much as 95 per cent of the vision in his left eye. Jackson was photographed in Los Angeles ten days ago visiting a doctor prior to shopping in several of his favourite stores with aides. The singer, who wore a Long Ranger style mask and Indiana Jones fedora to almost completely hide his face, was able to walk unaided, despite being seen in a wheelchair earlier this year near his home in Las Vegas.
But Halperin claims Jackson's lung condition has become more acute, causing the spin-off pulmonary disease emphysema often associated with heavy smokers – even though he has never touched cigarettes.
The writer added: "He has had Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency for years but it's gotten worse. He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it.
"He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It's the bleeding that's the most problematic part. It could kill him."
