For example, if someone took too much acetaminophen, doctors have medications available to help counter the toxicity. His long-time manager and confidante, Robert Hayes, revealed that alcohol was slowly eating away Harwell as he struggled to contain himself. Harwell started his musical endeavors as a rapper in FOS (Freedom Of Speech) but was drawn more towards the rock genre. He thoroughly imbibed the rock persona, along with the drastic side effects– he developed severe alcoholism and struggled with mental illnesses. This is when a portion of a healthy liver is taken from a living donor and transplanted into an individual who has liver failure, replacing their damaged organ and growing to a fully functioning liver. Regularly drinking a lot of alcohol eventually causes the liver to start replacing healthy cells with scar tissue — impairing the organ’s ability to function.
Before launching Smash Mouth in 1994, Steve Harwell released a single with the rap group F.O.S. (Freedom of Speech) through Scotti Bros. They produced popular hits in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, such as “All Star”, “Walkin’ on the Sun” and their cover of the Monkees’ “I’m a Believer.” “Steve is resting at home and being cared for by his fiancé and hospice care.”
Some medical institutions even require a time period someone needs to be sober for before being eligible to be placed on the transplant waiting list. For example, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland says alcoholics need to be sober for at least six months before they can be considered for a liver transplant. It is more common, however, for acute liver failure to occur in people who have no prior history of liver problems. Chronic liver disease is more common than acute and was the ninth leading cause of death in the US in 2020, behind 56,000 fatalities. Chronic liver failure on the other hand, is when the organ loses its ability to function over months to years due to damage compounded over time. Below, DailyMail.com explains what liver failure is and how the condition can lead to death.
Both conditions can be caused by alcohol abuse, which damages the organ and leads it to replace healthy cells with scar tissue — impairing its function. Liver failure, the loss of liver function, is rare and kills approximately 50,000 adults in the US per year. An estimated 5.5million are thought to have cirrhosis, or severe scarring of the liver often caused by alcoholism, which can lead to liver failure. The band’s manager had earlier said Harwell was in the final stages of liver failure and was receiving end of life care at his home.
“At first it was weird, and we were a bit guarded and resistant,” Harwell said of the song’s online popularity, in a 2017 interview with Polygon, external. “His only tools were his irrepressible charm and charisma, his fearlessly reckless ambition, and his king-size cajones. The rally was later declared a superspreader event by the National Institute of Health, and Smash Mouth said they received hate mail for performing there. “But as we dove into it more and focused on it we started ‘getting it.’ Plus, to be honest, it has really spiked the sales of the song.”
This can cause excessive drinking, which is why consistently using naltrexone before every drink is critical for success. As Verywell Review Board Member Dr. John Umhau notes in an article published in Advances in Addiction & Recovery, the Sinclair Method requires a lifetime commitment. While it minimizes cravings, it is important to remember that steve harwell alcholism people also drink for other purposes, including social reasons, boredom, habit, and as a way to dampen emotional pain. The Sinclair Method is not the only medication-based approach to alcohol recovery.
“The way we distinguish between the two is largely based on history,” she explains. That means “knowing whether they had a chronic ongoing liver injury or confirming that they’ve never had any liver injury, but now come in with a new situation where their liver’s not working.” Liver failure is a condition in which the liver can no longer keep functioning at normal levels.
Imagine the liver, an organ designed to detoxify your body, giving in to the constant onslaught of alcohol, leading to irreversible damage and, eventually, failure. The diagnosis led to multiple medical setbacks, including heart failure and acute Wernicke encephalopathy, affecting his speech and memory. It was reported that he had been dealing with alcohol abuse and its physical effects for years. Harwell’s remarkable journey in the music industry led him to pop stardom with hits like “Walkin’ on the Sun” and “All-Star,” making Smash Mouth a staple of the late ’90s pop radio landscape. This is because any further use of alcohol or other substances can lead to rapid damage to the newly transplanted liver, causing the operation to fail. Acute liver failure can be caused by a sudden trigger that overloads an already damaged liver.
In a statement Robert Hayes said Harwell died at his home in Idaho, “surrounded by family and friends”. Although the condition is “extremely rare,” Lucero says, it’s also always an emergency. It occurs when, all of a sudden, the liver just stops working in somebody who has no known liver condition, Lucero says.
“His only tools were his irrepressible charm, charisma, and reckless ambition. Doctors say liver damage can be treated in the early stages — and may even be reversible — by tackling the root cause. This happens because the alcohol is broken down into acetalhyde, which is toxic to the organ. It can also cause fats to accumulate in the liver, triggering inflammation and further damaging cells.
Steve Harwell died from acute liver failure, his band’s manager told NBC News. Alcohol also plays a role in the health of your liver, though it is more directly a cause of chronic liver failure, which is more common and develops over a longer period. In a tragic turn of events, the music industry mourns the loss of former Smash Mouth lead singer Steve Harwell, who passed away at 56 due to acute liver failure caused by alcoholism. With chronic liver failure, patients usually have long-standing liver disease, Kushner says, which can be caused by long-term alcohol use, hepatitis viruses, autoimmune conditions and genetic conditions. Steve Harwell, former lead singer for rock band Smash Mouth, died at age 56 on Sept. 4, 2023, due to acute liver failure. Naltrexone is effective because it blocks the pleasurable feelings people have when consuming alcohol.
In 2016, the rockstar collapsed on stage during a concert performance and had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. His condition worsened and he was shifted to hospice care before his death on Monday. The 56-year-old musician had a tumultuous relationship with alcohol and struggled for years with its addiction. Alcoholism also brought drastic behavioral changes, leading to some problematic incidents. And the fact that he achieved this near-impossible goal with very limited musical experience makes his accomplishments all the more remarkable.