According to a biography, Elvis Presley’s early demise was unavoidable and caused by genetic flaws brought on by incest in his line of descent.
Elvis’ early death at the age of 42 from a heart attack, according to Sally Hoedel’s argument in Elvis: Destined to Die Young, was predetermined and caused by genetic defects inherited from his maternal grandparents, who wed despite being first cousins.
Hoedel, an Elvis admirer her whole life, told the Sun that the parallels between the rock star’s passing and those of his mother Gladys Presley, who also passed away in her forties, gave her the idea for the book.
Similar like Elvis, Gladys had a quick, severe phase of health deterioration and drug usage, which resulted in her death at age 46 from heart failure.
Gladys’ three brothers all passed away from heart or lung conditions at ages comparable to hers.
The fact that there is so much going on in that family tree means that it ceases to be a coincidence by the time it reaches Elvis, according to Hoedel.
On August 16, 1977, Elvis was discovered dead in a bathtub in his Memphis, Tennessee, home.
His official cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrest, however it has long been disputed if drug usage contributed to that development.
In an effort to deal with the rigours of a decade of infamously exhausting touring, Presley is said to have been addicted to a variety of prescription medicines during the 1970s.
However, Hoedel stated in her book that rather than being the result of excessive consumption or careless drug use, Elvis’ deterioration was brought on by the excessive medicine that was given to him to treat maladies that he had already established and that his tour demands had exacerbated.
Hoedel said that while Elvis had a number of health problems, he managed to conceal them so effectively that we only remember him for his excessive medicine.
He often took too many pills, which is problematic, but you also have to consider why he was taking them in the first place.
Hoedel contended that the answers to comprehending Elvis’ demise may be found in the death of his mother, who passed away almost 19 years to the day before her son.
Gladys’ health began to quickly deteriorate in her 40s, just as Elvis’ did. She also had a problem with drug consumption, and on August 14, 1958, only a few days before her son was supposed to start his military duty in Germany, she passed away as an alcoholic.
Hoedel added, “But that’s not how life works. Gladys has always been presented as this mother whose son got famous, gave her a magnificent mansion, and she simply struggled to cope with it all and ultimately died of a broken heart.
I believe that before he enlisted in the army, Elvis and Vernon [Elvis’ father] were both aware of how ill she was.
Long thought to be caused by hepatitis, Glady’s heart failure was really caused by an Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a hereditary condition that harms the liver and lung and causes other health issues, according to Hoedel.
Elvis was later discovered to be an Alpha-1 carrier, therefore it had to have originated from someplace, according to Hoedel.
The Presleys were very private about their health, but Hoedel said that he was able to speak with individuals like Nancy Clarke, the cardiologist’s daughter who used to make house visits to the Presley residence with her father.
And before her father died away, she stated, “He indicated there was more to Gladys’ death than what he knew since he’s long been cited as saying it looked like hepatitis, but it wasn’t, and he couldn’t find out what was wrong with her.”
“Everything points back to Gladys’ parents.”
Doll Mansell, Elvis’ maternal grandmother, fought TB for many years. Hoedel, however, said that the diagnosis was probably incorrect and that she, too, had a hereditary disorder that had been handed down through the centuries and had been made worse by her union with her first cousin.
Again, she remarked, “something that doesn’t make sense, but has been transmitted down the family line and also throughout documented Elvis history,” In the early 1900s, tuberculosis was unquestionably misdiagnosed, as this book reveals.
From there, we may deduce from the marriage of the first cousins that Gladys most likely received two defective genes as well as a more severe form of the condition.