Lou Reed is recovering after receiving a life-saving liver transplant in Cleveland last month. Reed’s wife Laurie Anderson told the Times of London that, “It’s as serious as it gets. He was dying. You don’t get it for fun.” Anderson also said that Reed chose to have surgery at the Cleveland Clinic instead of his in hometown of New York City because the hospitals there are “dysfunctional.”

As previously reported, the Velvet Underground frontman cancelled a number of tour dates—including two performances at Coachella—in April due to “unavoidable complications.” There was little information about the cancellations beyond that, but it now looks like his health issues were responsible.

Anderson told The Guardian that Reed, who is now 71, will be back in action a few months, and is already working and doing tai’chi, though she doesn’t believe he’ll “ever totally recover from this.”

In a statement earlier today, Reed also said, “I am a triumph of modern medicine, physics and chemistry. I am bigger and stronger than stronger than ever. My Chen Taiji and health regimen has served me well all of these years, thanks to Master Ren Guang-yi. I look forward to being on stage performing, and writing more songs to connect with your hearts and spirits and the universe well into the future.”