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Spokesperson: Michael Jackson in 'Fine Health'

December 23, 2008 8:52 AM

Michael Jackson’s official spokesperson is denying reports that the King of Pop is on his deathbed and desperately needs a lung transplant to save his life from a rare, sometimes fatal, lung condition.

A new Jackson biographer, Ian Halperin, told In Touch Weekly that the 50-year-old pop singer suffers from Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a potentially fatal genetic illness, as emphysema and gastrointestinal bleeding.

“He’s had it for years, but it’s gotten worse,” Halperin, who reportedly just completed a book about Jackson’s life, told In Touch. “He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it … [But] it’s the [gastrointestinal] bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him.

Jackson's spokesperson, Dr. Tohme Tohme, called Halperin’s comments a complete fabrication in a statement released yesterday by Los Angeles-based Scoop Marketing.

“Concerning this author's allegations, we would hope in the future that legitimate media will not continue to be exploited by such an obvious attempt to promote this unauthorized 'biography.'”

“Mr. Jackson is in fine health, and finalizing negotiations with a major entertainment company and television network for both a world tour and a series of specials and appearances,” Tohme went on to say.

Tohme statement comes after conflicting messages sent by folks inside and outside Jackson’s camp.

Jackson’s older brother Jermaine refused to deny the report when contacted by Fox News. “He’s not doing well right now,” he told a reporter. “This isn’t a good time.” isn’t a go”
But other Jackson family insiders say reports that he is gravely ill simply are not true.

Brian Oxman, the Jackson family attorney, told ABCNews.com, “Michael is doing okay from everything we can tell. I spoke to Randy Jackson (his brother). This story is not so.”

Kevin McLin, who has known Michael for 34 years and served as his media specialist for 10, told ABCNews.com: “The reports are not true. At this moment MJ is moving into a new estate.  He is in great health and is working on new music. Again, the reports about his declining health are false.”

Pearl Jr., who runs the web site MichaelJacksonInsider.com, told ABCNews.com that after speaking to a few family members, she believes the reports are an exaggerated rumor. “I was told Katherine did talk to MJ a few days ago, and she was not alerted to anything that devastating,” she said. “I was also told not to worry.”

Still, pictures of Jackson in a wheelchair earlier this year and wearing a Zorro mask while being helped across the street about two weeks ago leave many with the impression that all in not well with the King of Pop.

People who know him say it’s not his physical health we should be worried about.

“It’s not beyond Michael at all to have this put out for publicity,” said Stacy Brown, who co-wrote the Jackson biography “Michael Jackson: the Man behind the Mask.” “It’s a classic Michael Jackson attention-seeking move. He’s the classic boy who cried wolf.”

Brown also questions how much Jackson’s family really knows about his health. He told ABCNews.com that none of his family members are in close contact with him, by Jackson’s design. And he wonders whether Jackson is working with Halperin to try to stir up interest in his own book.

Brown says Jackson has been shopping around the story of his life for $12 million, but so far hasn’t gotten any takers.

“He doesn’t want to perform,” Brown said, “so the book becomes so much more important now. And this ‘illness’ is another way he can heighten the value.”

“He lives basically on a lot of borrowed money and borrowed credit,” Brown continued. “He’s extremely cash poor. He’s asset rich and even that isn’t what used to be. Most of that is heavily mortgaged, including the Beatles catalogue, his catalogue, the (Neverland) ranch and his condo in LA.”

If reports are true that Jackson will need a lung transplant, then his condition has advanced to a serious state.

“You don’t start with a lung transplants,” Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, told ABCNews.com.

He treated Jackson in 1999 for a different illness but said he didn’t see signs of Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency or AATD, then.

People with AATD have problems producing a protein that protects their lungs from the enzyme trypsin. Our bodies naturally produce trypsin to digest food in the intestines and attack bacteria in the lungs, but too much trypsin could mean the enzyme starts to destroy a person’s own flesh.

“In your lungs you use trypsin to destroy bacteria, but once you’re done, you need anti-trypsin to stop it,” Dr. Norman H. Edelman, the chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, told ABCNews.com.

About 75 percent of adults with severe AATD will go on to develop emphysema, often in middle age, according to the National Institutes of Health. Horovitz said Jackson’s condition would only accelerate to emphysema if he suffered poor air quality conditions, such as pollution.

“If you have Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency and you smoke -- it’s real trouble,” said Horovitz.

Treatment is possible when AATD is caught early, “but it’s not a magic cure,” said Edelman.

Patients can get an IV infusion of the protecting protein either monthly or weekly at a hospital or a specialized treatment center.

“This is a dire situation -- a lung transplant,” said Horovitz. “It sounds like he’s at a severe point where there’s no lung tissue left to preserve and he needs a transplant.”

Horovitz said once lung tissue is gone, there’s no hope of restoring it.

Edelman said lung transplants have come a long way in recent years, but the surgery and recovery are still a risky process. First a donor match must be found, and then the patient must suppress their immune system so the body won’t reject the lung.

“The five-year survival rate is 70 percent, so that’s pretty good,” said Edelman. “But they would not consider a lung transplant unless he had pretty severe emphysema.” 

Patients can get an IV infusion of the protecting protein either monthly or weekly at a hospital or a specialized treatment center.

“This is a dire situation -- a lung transplant,” said Horovitz. “It sounds like he’s at a severe point where there’s no lung tissue left to preserve and he needs a transplant.”

Horovitz said once lung tissue is gone, there’s no hope of restoring it.

Edelman said lung transplants have come a long way in recent years, but the surgery and recovery are still a risky process. First a donor match must be found, and then the patient must suppress their immune system so the body won’t reject the lung.

“The five-year survival rate is 70 percent, so that’s pretty good,” said Edelman. “But they would not consider a lung transplant unless he had pretty severe emphysema.” 

Luchina Fisher and Lauren Cox

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