I have been, and remain, an incredibly fortunate individual. Having said that, I drew a crap hand back in the fall. I thought I had a torn right rotator cuff and had to drop out of several gigs. When I went to get an X ray, my doctor said, “I don’t think it’s your rotator cuff; I think you might have multiple myeloma.” Friends, as much as I didn’t want to have a torn rotator cuff, it would’ve been way better than having multiple myeloma.

MM is a cancer of the white plasma cells in the bone marrow. It causes lesions on the bones, which weaken them. This led to a fracture in my right humerus which was misdiagnosed as a torn rotator cuff. While it isn’t curable, there are lots of treatment options. I’ve gotten three titanium rods in both humeruses and my right femur, so my skeleton is reinforced to help prevent further fractures. January is chemo and radiation fest 2026. I’m looking at a stem cell transplant in the near future and probably immunotherapy down the road. Hopefully once I go into my first remission my bones will have a chance to heal and I’ll be back to my normal self for a bit. But MM is basically a chronic condition, so relapses and remissions will be a constant pattern for the rest of my time on this planet.

If you would like to do your good deed for the day, I could really use some help managing this diagnosis. The bills from my titanium surgeries are already piling up and I have just started the whole fighting cancer part. While I do have health insurance thanks to my amazing wife’s job, there are still out of pocket maximum payments that we’ll be responsible for. And thanks to my impeccable timing, we’ll hit one payment for 2025 and then have another right on its heels in 2026. And the way this disease works means I’ll likely be responsible for the out of pocket max payment every year I’m still alive. Not to mention that I’ve been unable to work and had to back out of several well paying gigs we were counting on, including a multi week tour. Bottom line: if all my pals on the socials who are able could pitch in something, it would at least take the financial strain off of me and my family a little and allow us to concentrate on getting me through these treatments and hopefully living a decently long and high quality life.

I’ve set the first goal to cover deductibles and out of pocket maximum responsibilities for 2025-26. If we meet that goal, we’ll add stretch goals to help cover the same costs of future treatments.

I am grateful that you all are in my life and thank you in advance for your generosity. If you aren’t in a position to give to the gofundme, no problem. Sharing it on your feed is also very generous and increases the campaign’s visibility. All well wishes, prayers, incantations, meditations are also appreciated. I am confident and hopeful that with your help, I’ll be able to get through this multiple myeloma thing, hopefully for many years to come. Much love and goodness to all of you!!