The guitarist for British band Architects has died aged 28 after a battle with cancer.
Tom Searle had been living with the disease for three years, his twin brother has revealed.
Dan Searle, the band’s drummer, broke the news on Facebook, writing:
Dan said his brother had been missing from the band’s shows for the past 15 months because of surgeries to treat the cancer.
He said the band, from Brighton, was forced to cancel a European festival tour and a headline tour of the USA because Tom was taken to hospital in Luxembourg on June 8 and was placed into a medically induced coma the following day.
Completely devastated and heartbroken. I loved Tom more than I can express in words. Life will never be the same X pic.twitter.com/4dTmponjjS
— Dan Searle (@danarchitects) August 21, 2016
He wrote: “Doctors told us that it was unlikely that they’d ever be able to wake him. Five days later, against all the odds, he was awake again, and in a few short days following that, myself and Tom cancelled the air ambulance that was due to take him home and we got the Eurostar train home. Classic Tom Searle.”
The drummer said his twin’s condition deteriorated in the last two weeks before he died.
The most inspirational and influential person I've ever met. Love you Tom. https://t.co/5rqgxDBMeM
— Adam Christianson (@adamarchitects) August 21, 2016
He added: “I don’t know what will become of Architects. Me and Tom started playing in a band together when we were 13 and, really, Architects is just an evolution of the band that we started all the way back then, over half my life ago.
“To pretend that Tom wasn’t at the heart of everything that the band created would be to show a complete lack of respect to the amazing talent that he was. The band will never be the same and there is simply no denying it.”
We love you Tom.https://t.co/jc8mYMXPhf pic.twitter.com/80ZU2zUMfu
— Architects (@Architectsuk) August 21, 2016
The band will continue on their tour with a UK and European headline slot starting in October and will travel to Australia in a few weeks, he said.
“We hope that these shows will be an opportunity for everyone out there to show their respects to my wonderful brother. It won’t be easy for us to get on stage and play every night without him, but it’s something that we must do.
“We want to carry on, that is important to say, and we will strive to do so, but we will not release any music unless we truly believe that it is something that Tom would have been proud of. Whether or not we can achieve that is something that we will have to discover in time.”
Dan revealed Tom was cared for at The Martlets Hospice in Hove and said fans will be able to donate to the hospice in his brother’s memory through www.justgiving.com/thomassearle.
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