Help Dan Fight Cancer!

My dear friend Dan Garr has been diagnosed with Acute T-Cell Leukemia at only 26 years old and has been going through cancer treatment at MD Anderson - Houston. It’s the best hospital for the treatment, and treatment is extremely expensive. Their insurance has denied some coverage and so it's looking like a life spent paying off medical debt for an unfair disease.

Navigating the American healthcare system is and challenging to say the LEAST and the everyday costs of living — food, utilities, bills— don’t pause for cancer. $100,000 might seem like a lofty goal, but it's just a fraction of the overall costs.

Leukemia cancer cells lie in the blood so there can be no surgical removal of tumors. As of June 15th, Dan has finished 2 rounds of chemo on an 8-cycle chemotherapy plan (about one session per month). Chemo is incredibly hard on the body, so time is given between each session for recovery. Since cancer and chemo also batter the immune system, Dan has to be very careful of outside exposures. Time at home that can be quite isolating and tough mentally. When they go through all 8 rounds of chemo and the leukemia cells get down to a very low, undetectable level, then they'll go for a full stem cell transplant which in essence deletes and regrows a new immune system. To put this in perspective, cost estimate just for the stem cell transfer is $563,926.

Please please consider donating what you can to support one of the kindest human beings I know.

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I joke that when I first moved to Austin January 2023, it felt like throwing a dart at the map. I had no family here, a few acquaintances. I found a Facebook marketplace roommate, a 6 month sublease & a restaurant job. Dan was a chef at the restaurant. Eager to make new friends, I naievely and charismatically tried to chat with Dan during service. "HI! How are you?! How's the day? What do you like to do for fun? Ooooooh - what are you making?!"

It took a few weeks to get close with Dan. All it took was crying at the Golden Goose! I shed tears at the dive bar & I think that's when Dan realized I was not just an overly enthusiastic mid-tier server at the restaurant, I was an overly enthusiastic mid-tier server WITH a whole range of silly human emotions. We bonded over the arbitrary nature of our lives and the importance of laughing and loving through it all.

Dan became one of my first real friends in Austin - a city new to me, that owed me nothing, started to feel more expansive. I left the restaurant but Dan was sure to come with me. An absolutely fantastic chef, Dan and I have since over the past 2.5 years had many a wine dinner with heartfelt yapping. I have been lucky enough to collaborate with them on their passion project: Low Dose. A dinner series with the goal of connecting people over the beauty of delicious food, smooth music and an impeccably curated vibe. I just respect the fk out of Dan and think the world of their squishy heart.

The paper towel note on my fridge has been there since Dan left it for me over a year ago, after a night up late drinking wine and philosophizing about the meaning of life. CUTE, huh.

If you know Dan, you know how special a human they are. If you don't... get in loser!! We're going to Houston.