A 21-year-old hard rock superfan has had to postpone his decade-long dream of watching his favourite band play in Edmonton after a fluke illness left him heavily sedated in hospital. Tristan Fehr is studying for his private pilot’s licence, plays guitar and drums, writes songs and prepares thoughtful gifts for his grandma. He’s always been “a planner,” his mom, Jennifer, told CTV News Edmonton. “He’s one of my best friends in the whole world … He’s just one of those people that always wants to do more, always looking for the next thing that he can accomplish," she said. He’s also a “number one” Foo Fighters fan, she said. Tristan planned to go to his first-ever Foo Fighters concert at Commonwealth Stadium on Sept. 17. Then he got sick during a family trip to B.C. In true 21-year-old fashion, he didn’t think much of it. He wrote off symptoms like weight loss and exhaustion as stress until he went unresponsive one night at the dinner table. He was having seizures. Cut to hospitals, CT scans, MRIs, internal medicine workups and more. They ultimately diagnosed Tristan with anti-NMDA encephalitis — a rare disease to begin with, especially in men — at the University of Alberta Hospital. The autoimmune disease typically begins with a virus and attacks receptors in the brain, leading to serious inflammation. As of Tuesday, Tristan has been in a medically induced coma for more than a week. “It’s a very slow-progressing type of disease. In some cases, people will recover quickly. In other cases, they can become quite critically ill. Right now, Tristan is very critically ill. There’s little bits of progress that they’re seeing … But we’re having a hard time because he’s not talking, he’s not communicating with us,” Jennifer said. “Every day is something new, something is happening, and not being able to have him talk to us is really excruciating.” ‘Heartbreaking’ Tristan’s condition means the avid Foo Fighters fan will likely not make it to the concert he’s been planning months ahead for. The 90s-era rock band headlined by David Grohl has defined much of Tristan’s style and musical inclination, best friend Matteo Sicolo says. The two met the day the band’s drummer Taylor Hawkins died, which catalyzed the conversations that would lead to a close friendship. Even the hard-rock band Tristan helped start and drums for, called Revera, takes much of its mixing magic advice from the Foo Fighters. One of Revera’s original songs, Waste of Fire, had Chris Sheldon’s hand in it. Sheldon mixed the Foo Fighters’ second studio album, The Colour and the Shape. After all, why not talk to the guy “who has his fingerprints on some of our favourite songs of all time?” Sicolo said. He added that Tristan thought that was “pretty special.” “Things have just been turned upside down … This is a band that, from a distance and unknowingly, has given him so much strength and inspiration to follow through (on) this burst of creative passion.” The two were meant to go to the upcoming concert together. They bought tickets in November. “In terms of the band and our friendship and musical interests, this has been a long time coming. There were a lot of incredible things converging. So the fact that he probably won’t be able to see it is heartbreaking.” Although Tristan remains sedated, his family and community are rallying around him, praying and holding out hope. Jennifer says she hopes sharing her son’s story might help other families — and in a perfect world, the band — become aware of the disease’s sudden onset and horror. “It’s literally been like living in your worst kind of nightmare. He’s an amazing kid, and he had such an incredible life, and he will again. I believe that wholeheartedly.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
