Faulkner was rushed to the UofL Health - Jewish Hospital where the cardiothoracic surgery team needed approximately 10 hours to complete a life-saving surgery.
"The good news is he's healing, and his therapy will be picking up the guitar and getting back into these new songs for PRIEST and getting ready for the next batch of road work," Halford told Consequence. "I've had a couple of conversations with him, and he sounds great. I'm waiting to hear that he's picked up the guitar — he's probably picked up the guitar already and his doctors are saying, 'Put that guitar down!'"
The 41-year-old had "an aortic aneurysm and complete aortic dissection" while performing the closing song of PRIEST's set on the final day of Louder Than Life in Louisville. Faulkner later said in a statement: "As I watch footage from the Louder Than Life Festival in Kentucky, I can see in my face the confusion and anguish I was feeling whilst playing 'Painkiller' as my aorta ruptured and started to spill blood into my chest cavity."
Faulkner also once again encouraged fans to learn from his experience and closely monitor their heart health.