Todd’s Surprise New Neck Fund
Donation protected
todd rogers. the boiling man. dubbed one of connecticut’s best hardcore screamers. and over the last quarter century, a friend and influence to many. a million kind sentiments could easily be poured in this paragraph and have already been posted by us on social media outlets.
so let’s celebrate and requite todd’s extensive musical and artistic contributions to our community. but what i’d like to share is why now.
a few months ago, todd started having worsening trouble with sensory tracts in his arms and legs among other issues- pervasive numbness in his hands, some tremor and weakening. in mid-july, he lost motor function in his left arm, and started losing his balance requiring a cane to walk; thus prompting an emergency room visit and a comprehensive workup. this revealed a severely degenerated cervical spine and a particularly troublesome disc that was crushing the left half of his spinal column. we learned in his surgery a couple of weeks later, in which three c-spine discs were removed, that he was extremely close to paralysis. out of nowhere. unexpectedly. for no reason.
prior to surgery, todd was struggling to paint, sculpt, and mold. to speak with his hands. watching his primary language, his art and creative output, fading, degenerating; watching him become creatively mute and for a reason unknown was terrifying, frustrating, depressing. his studio, affectionately dubbed ‘the lab’, slowly darkened with less and less use. post-surgery, he is now part man, part-metal, part-plastic. kind of like the toys he’s so fond of rooting, razing, and rebirthing in the lab. so life imitates art, or maybe the other way around. that old chestnut. even though the lab remains dormant, plans are actively in the works for new ventures, new figures, new ideas, dare i say... a new hope (shoot me).
todd is on the mend, at an extraordinarily slow pace. not allowed to lift anything over five pounds for the foreseeable future. or bend, twist, push, pull, drag- you get the picture- so probably we won’t see him in a pit anytime soon, unfortunately. and is left with a copay that’s more that his yearly salary (yes, COPAY, because he has health insurance through his full time job, and that’s how healthcare works- i’ll resist going on my healthcare provider rant). he’s too humble to ever ask for help with something like a fundraiser. just getting him to ask for help with his recovery and attend to his treatment team’s orders has been a herculean effort coordinated between the women in his life since the moment he woke up from anesthesia.
speaking of anesthesia- a digression... we waited nearly ten hours between pre-op when they took him from us to when they wheeled todd out of the post-anesthesia unit; todd ogling each of us like Dorothy waking from Oz. during those ten hours, time decided to neglect our fears, anxieties, pacing, nausea, catastrophizing, crying, small talk, dissociation, unnecessary trips to the bathroom just to stretch one’s legs, and just lollygagged, that salty bitch. I think we all settled, Todd’s girlfriend, mom, step-dad and me, finally when we watched It’s A Wondeful Life. part of the limited collection of movies offered to distract the distressed loved ones of active surgical patients herded into windowless, fluorescent washed rooms, appointed just well enough to not mind that they were clearly once patient rooms, live oxygen flow still on the walls. we didn’t mind that the tele was only 12 inches and hard to hear because hospital construction was drilling adjacent to us nearly the whole time, nor that it was july. it’s one of todd’s all time favorites. and i guess the movie’s sentiment is appropriate here. we’re all better for having todd in our lives, and for having each other as a community. hot dog!
so please join us in neck-banging to todd’s shiny, new, surprise, compulsory, expensive, bionic neck in person at the benefit planned by Asbestos Records and Manic Productions and/or with any small contribution you might be able to share. any and all of your love and support is beyond appreciated.
Link to show info is here. Suuuuuuper excited for The Pist reunion as well as many close, extraordinarily talented musicians we are lucky enough to call friends:
http://www.manicpresents.com/event/1765320-todd-rogers-benefit-pist-hamden
so let’s celebrate and requite todd’s extensive musical and artistic contributions to our community. but what i’d like to share is why now.
a few months ago, todd started having worsening trouble with sensory tracts in his arms and legs among other issues- pervasive numbness in his hands, some tremor and weakening. in mid-july, he lost motor function in his left arm, and started losing his balance requiring a cane to walk; thus prompting an emergency room visit and a comprehensive workup. this revealed a severely degenerated cervical spine and a particularly troublesome disc that was crushing the left half of his spinal column. we learned in his surgery a couple of weeks later, in which three c-spine discs were removed, that he was extremely close to paralysis. out of nowhere. unexpectedly. for no reason.
prior to surgery, todd was struggling to paint, sculpt, and mold. to speak with his hands. watching his primary language, his art and creative output, fading, degenerating; watching him become creatively mute and for a reason unknown was terrifying, frustrating, depressing. his studio, affectionately dubbed ‘the lab’, slowly darkened with less and less use. post-surgery, he is now part man, part-metal, part-plastic. kind of like the toys he’s so fond of rooting, razing, and rebirthing in the lab. so life imitates art, or maybe the other way around. that old chestnut. even though the lab remains dormant, plans are actively in the works for new ventures, new figures, new ideas, dare i say... a new hope (shoot me).
todd is on the mend, at an extraordinarily slow pace. not allowed to lift anything over five pounds for the foreseeable future. or bend, twist, push, pull, drag- you get the picture- so probably we won’t see him in a pit anytime soon, unfortunately. and is left with a copay that’s more that his yearly salary (yes, COPAY, because he has health insurance through his full time job, and that’s how healthcare works- i’ll resist going on my healthcare provider rant). he’s too humble to ever ask for help with something like a fundraiser. just getting him to ask for help with his recovery and attend to his treatment team’s orders has been a herculean effort coordinated between the women in his life since the moment he woke up from anesthesia.
speaking of anesthesia- a digression... we waited nearly ten hours between pre-op when they took him from us to when they wheeled todd out of the post-anesthesia unit; todd ogling each of us like Dorothy waking from Oz. during those ten hours, time decided to neglect our fears, anxieties, pacing, nausea, catastrophizing, crying, small talk, dissociation, unnecessary trips to the bathroom just to stretch one’s legs, and just lollygagged, that salty bitch. I think we all settled, Todd’s girlfriend, mom, step-dad and me, finally when we watched It’s A Wondeful Life. part of the limited collection of movies offered to distract the distressed loved ones of active surgical patients herded into windowless, fluorescent washed rooms, appointed just well enough to not mind that they were clearly once patient rooms, live oxygen flow still on the walls. we didn’t mind that the tele was only 12 inches and hard to hear because hospital construction was drilling adjacent to us nearly the whole time, nor that it was july. it’s one of todd’s all time favorites. and i guess the movie’s sentiment is appropriate here. we’re all better for having todd in our lives, and for having each other as a community. hot dog!
so please join us in neck-banging to todd’s shiny, new, surprise, compulsory, expensive, bionic neck in person at the benefit planned by Asbestos Records and Manic Productions and/or with any small contribution you might be able to share. any and all of your love and support is beyond appreciated.
Link to show info is here. Suuuuuuper excited for The Pist reunion as well as many close, extraordinarily talented musicians we are lucky enough to call friends:
http://www.manicpresents.com/event/1765320-todd-rogers-benefit-pist-hamden
Fundraising team: Fundraising team (2)
Sasha Lee
Organizer
Raised $1,665 from 13 donations
Hamden, CT
Todd Rogers
Beneficiary
Sierra Anseeuw
Team member
Raised $595 from 8 donations
This team raised $2,390 from 46 other donations.
