JAKARTA - The Indonesian music world is in mourning again. Lucky Widja, the vocalist of the band Element, died at the age of 49, Sunday, January 25, 2026 at Halim Hospital, Jakarta. Lucky's departure left a deep sadness for his family, friends, and bandmates who have been with him for decades.
Expressions of condolences came from Element personnel, one of which was Ferdy Tahier. He remembered Lucky's long struggle against the disease he suffered from.
"You are calm, you are not sick anymore, you don't need a blood transfusion anymore, you don't need oxygen anymore. You are happy now, you can be young again, be calm there, Ki," wrote Ferdy through his Instagram upload.
Before he died, Lucky had been open about his health condition. In February 2023, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with kidney tuberculosis (TB) since 2022. This disease slowly damaged kidney function and had a major impact on his body condition.
The severe symptoms began to be felt during Ramadan. Lucky admitted that his body was very weak, even to go to bed he had to crawl because he couldn't walk. The results of the doctor's examination showed that he had stage five kidney failure, with only about 18 percent of kidney function remaining.
Further examination revealed that the kidney damage was caused by a spread of TB infection. As a result, Lucky's weight dropped drastically from around 84 kilograms to 64 kilograms.
"I have kidney TB. Tuberculosis attacks the lower body, kidneys, ureters, bladder, to the urethra, everything is affected. So all the urinary tract is affected," Lucky said at the time in a discussion, quoted from Ferdy Tahier's YouTube channel.
The long fight against the disease finally ended in January 2026. Although he has passed away, Lucky Widja's works and memories will continue to live in the hearts of Indonesian music fans.
As reported by the Healthline website, tuberculosis is generally known to attack the lungs. However, in certain cases, TB bacteria can also attack other organs, including the kidneys. This condition is known as renal tuberculosis or renal tuberculosis.
Renal TB is a rare disease. The cause is the same bacteria as pulmonary TB, namely Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Of the millions of cases of TB in the world, only a small percentage develop into TB outside the lungs, including in the kidneys.
Renal TB is part of urogenital TB, which is TB that attacks the urinary tract and reproductive organs. This disease is often difficult to detect because the symptoms are similar to common urinary tract infections.
Symptoms of kidney tuberculosis can include blood in the urine, pain in the waist area, and increased pain or frequency of urination. However, these complaints are not specific and often resemble common urinary tract infections, so that kidney TB is often late in being diagnosed.
Because the symptoms are not typical, kidney TB is often late in diagnosis. To confirm the disease, the doctor will perform urine tests, blood tests, imaging tests such as ultrasound or CT scans, to kidney biopsies.
Treatment of kidney TB is generally the same as pulmonary TB, namely using a combination of antibiotics for 6-9 months. If not treated properly, kidney TB can cause permanent kidney damage to kidney failure.
However, with early diagnosis and proper treatment, the chances of recovery from kidney TB are quite good and serious complications can be prevented.
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