Help Andrew Weems Battle Cancer!
Donation protected
Everyone-
On New Years Eve of 2018 our friend Andy Weems was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer. He had been having difficulty swallowing for several weeks and while rehearsing “Kleptocracy” at the Arena Stage in D.C., he decided to see a Gastrointestinal doctor, who on December 28th performed an endoscopy. The results arrived on New Year’s Eve- a large stage 3 tumor in Andy's esophagus and stage 2 in some of his lymph nodes. Andy immediately set out to find an oncologist and a plan for treatment and after some serious processing and huddling with his family and friends and colleagues at Arena Stage, he settled on George Washington University Hospital in D.C., where he could be close to his brother and sister, who were ready for the tag team taking care of the Weems.
Andy dropped out of rehearsals for “Kleptocracy” after 2 weeks (the Arena was completely supportive in every way) and began a full on assault style treatment on February 4th, chemo once a week and radiation 5 times a week, until March 12th.
The weekly doses, of course, were hard but Andy managed to keep his hope, hair and humor alive and has since waited out the limbo period while his body detoxed and responded to the treatments. The results for this first phase are promising--a CT scan, Endoscopy and PET scan indicate that the tumor has disappeared, as has the cancer in the lymph nodes and, most importantly, it doesn't seem to have spread. But esophageal cancer is ruthless and the chances of it returning are high and if it does it will likely come back as stage 4.
So the next phase of treatment is surgery-- a complicated procedure where basically, they open Andy up, remove most of his esophagus and part of his stomach, use the remainder of his stomach to replace his esophagus and adjust his colon and intestines accordingly. It’s a proven procedure and if it works, Andy should be cancer free, 20 lbs. lighter and eating half portions of everything for the rest of his days.
The procedure is tentatively scheduled for mid June but even in the best-case scenario of a full recovery, Andy will likely not be able to work until late this year, or even early next, 2020. That’s at least many more months of no income. His unemployment benefits have run out, and due to various technicalities, he is not eligible for assistance from the Actors' Fund or disability. He needs our help, friends. We’re setting a conservative goal at $20,000 for living expenses, bills, medicine and unknown medical expenses not covered by health insurance (which runs out for Andy in June of 2020). Despite the unknown length of Andy's recovery process, we know these funds will take enormous pressure off a man who needs all his energy to focus, heal and stay alive.
I’ve known Andy for over 20 years. We met doing a production of “All In the Timing” by David Ives in Vienna. He was Trotsky, sitting at a desk with a mountain climber’s ax in his head and I was his gardener. Since then, we’ve seen each other through a lot of dark nights and less dark days, we’ve laughed shamelessly and fearfully at things we knew we'd probably go to Hell for and we’ve stayed sober through them all. We’ve always been able to help each other get through hard times but for the past 5 months, I’ve been watching him go through this ordeal and I’ve felt completely useless. Unable to do anything that might make a real difference; that might really help him.
We’ve all known the pain of watching beloved friends go through harrowing events while we’ve not been able to do anything to rescue them. If you’re getting this plea as an email or on social media, you know Andy Weems and have been touched by his brilliance and generosity as an actor, you’ve been scorched by his wit and have laughed your asses off at his observations and ruminations about the world and life in general. You’ve shared a dressing room with him or a diet coke or a bottle of water (for those real old timers, a stiff drink and a smoke) or you've shared a salad or a pack of trident with him or a subway ride or a taxi or a walk or a story or a stage. You know what it’s like to be with him and like all the friends and family we’ve already lost, you know the world wouldn’t be as good without him. Help us help Andy. Any donation you can give, no matter the size, will be deeply appreciated and will keep our friend going through the hardest battle he’s ever fought.
If there’s anyone who you think needs to know about Andy’s condition, please feel free to send them a link to this GoFundMe campaign.
And if you'd like to join us as a member of the support team, let us know!
Thank you!
On New Years Eve of 2018 our friend Andy Weems was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer. He had been having difficulty swallowing for several weeks and while rehearsing “Kleptocracy” at the Arena Stage in D.C., he decided to see a Gastrointestinal doctor, who on December 28th performed an endoscopy. The results arrived on New Year’s Eve- a large stage 3 tumor in Andy's esophagus and stage 2 in some of his lymph nodes. Andy immediately set out to find an oncologist and a plan for treatment and after some serious processing and huddling with his family and friends and colleagues at Arena Stage, he settled on George Washington University Hospital in D.C., where he could be close to his brother and sister, who were ready for the tag team taking care of the Weems.
Andy dropped out of rehearsals for “Kleptocracy” after 2 weeks (the Arena was completely supportive in every way) and began a full on assault style treatment on February 4th, chemo once a week and radiation 5 times a week, until March 12th.
The weekly doses, of course, were hard but Andy managed to keep his hope, hair and humor alive and has since waited out the limbo period while his body detoxed and responded to the treatments. The results for this first phase are promising--a CT scan, Endoscopy and PET scan indicate that the tumor has disappeared, as has the cancer in the lymph nodes and, most importantly, it doesn't seem to have spread. But esophageal cancer is ruthless and the chances of it returning are high and if it does it will likely come back as stage 4.
So the next phase of treatment is surgery-- a complicated procedure where basically, they open Andy up, remove most of his esophagus and part of his stomach, use the remainder of his stomach to replace his esophagus and adjust his colon and intestines accordingly. It’s a proven procedure and if it works, Andy should be cancer free, 20 lbs. lighter and eating half portions of everything for the rest of his days.
The procedure is tentatively scheduled for mid June but even in the best-case scenario of a full recovery, Andy will likely not be able to work until late this year, or even early next, 2020. That’s at least many more months of no income. His unemployment benefits have run out, and due to various technicalities, he is not eligible for assistance from the Actors' Fund or disability. He needs our help, friends. We’re setting a conservative goal at $20,000 for living expenses, bills, medicine and unknown medical expenses not covered by health insurance (which runs out for Andy in June of 2020). Despite the unknown length of Andy's recovery process, we know these funds will take enormous pressure off a man who needs all his energy to focus, heal and stay alive.
I’ve known Andy for over 20 years. We met doing a production of “All In the Timing” by David Ives in Vienna. He was Trotsky, sitting at a desk with a mountain climber’s ax in his head and I was his gardener. Since then, we’ve seen each other through a lot of dark nights and less dark days, we’ve laughed shamelessly and fearfully at things we knew we'd probably go to Hell for and we’ve stayed sober through them all. We’ve always been able to help each other get through hard times but for the past 5 months, I’ve been watching him go through this ordeal and I’ve felt completely useless. Unable to do anything that might make a real difference; that might really help him.
We’ve all known the pain of watching beloved friends go through harrowing events while we’ve not been able to do anything to rescue them. If you’re getting this plea as an email or on social media, you know Andy Weems and have been touched by his brilliance and generosity as an actor, you’ve been scorched by his wit and have laughed your asses off at his observations and ruminations about the world and life in general. You’ve shared a dressing room with him or a diet coke or a bottle of water (for those real old timers, a stiff drink and a smoke) or you've shared a salad or a pack of trident with him or a subway ride or a taxi or a walk or a story or a stage. You know what it’s like to be with him and like all the friends and family we’ve already lost, you know the world wouldn’t be as good without him. Help us help Andy. Any donation you can give, no matter the size, will be deeply appreciated and will keep our friend going through the hardest battle he’s ever fought.
If there’s anyone who you think needs to know about Andy’s condition, please feel free to send them a link to this GoFundMe campaign.
And if you'd like to join us as a member of the support team, let us know!
Thank you!
Fundraising team: Team Weems (9)
Pearce Bunting
Organizer
Minneapolis, MN
Andrew Weems
Beneficiary
Tina Peterson
Team member
Tom Nelis
Team member
Tricia Paoluccio
Team member
Tina Peterson
Team member
