Cancer shows no mercy.

Many readers know that my walk honors four or five very special people, who are survivors of different cancers. Here's an especially heartbreaking story....about a musician I will add to my roll call this year.

From Earshot Jazz:

Raised in our town, and educated at Roosevelt High, Andrew D’Angelo is experiencing a health crisis after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. On January 25, the saxophonist and composer suffered a major seizure in Brooklyn, New York, where he lives. Tests revealed a large tumor in his brain. After surgeons removed most of the tumor, they determined that the growth was cancerous. He faces a long and difficult battle over the next several years if he is to regain his health.

At this writing, it is unclear what form his treatment will take. Andrew has been frankly discussing his experiences on his website, www.andrewdangelo.com, and his entries there suggest that the most likely options are radiation and chemotherapy, with or without further surgery.

He speaks on the blog of the difficulties he faces in affording the extensive treatment he has already undergone, and the additional treatments he will need. One aspect of his struggle will strike many jazz musicians, and working musicians of any kind, as sadly and chillingly familiar: Andrew has no health insurance. And already he has amassed huge medical bills.
Friends and colleagues of the popular saxophonist have rallied in the most heartening way to his cause. They have established a fund for him, to help with the costs of his surgery and recovery; for details, see www.andrewdangelo.com/donate.php.

And, in an extraordinary display of concern and affection, friends and fellow musicians have also planned benefit concerts in cities in the United States and abroad. As this publication goes to print, events had already been staged in New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, and the Boston area, as well as in cities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Belgium, Iceland, Spain, and Norway.

Many more are in the planning – in Brooklyn, New York, and Maine, and in Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium.

-- Excerpt from Article in Earshot Jazz by Peter Monaghan
Copywright 2008 Earshot Jazz, Seattle

Concert is at Roosevelt High School, $15 for adults, $10 for students. It begins at 7:30pm. It will be great music all the way round. All proceeds to Andrew.