Another Message from Barry Crimmins

Notes in the Guestbook - by Barry Crimmins

If the fact that Billy Bragg, Mark Thomas, Charlotte Church, Daniel Kitson, Grace Petrie, James Acaster, Josie Long, Hollie McNish, Alistair Barrie, Chris Stokes and Robin Ince are doing a 3 hour show and most tickets are £15 isn’t enough, then I hope this will persuade you to come to the New Wimbledon Theatre on 23rd October. Tickets here.

There is no good attitude, no denial, no distraction that can obfuscate the fact that Helen is getting sicker. Today her doctor decided there is some very specific oral chemotherapy that could help slow and/or stop her latest deterioration. Helen cannot receive chemo through a “port” due to the MRSA infection she got from an earlier round of chemo so she must take the meds in pill form. The cost is astronomically higher. There is a $6,000 monthly copay for one of the drugs and $13,000 for the other. This is the kind of economic savagery sick people in the USA face.

As much as the funds raised by this benefit raise will help us, we feel it is incumbent for us to implore our friends in Great Britain to keep the profiteering wolves from your National Health Service’s door. It is hard enough having to face the horrid cruelty that is Stage Four Lymphoma but when you have to fight it in a system designed to impoverish you through use of Orwellian spun words such as “copay” (meant to imply, “Hey, do your part” rather than acknowledge that having this dreadful disease inflicted upon you is more of a contribution than anyone should ever have to make)

Helen just said to me, “I’m stressed out, not just about the illness but about how we would even be able to afford to live should I survive or how you would be able to live, if I don’t make it.” This statement is typical of my wife’s practicality, pithy insight and boundless compassion. Even when she has every right to become maudlin and self-involved, she thinks of others. Among those others are children beset with cancer.

She is aghast to think this horror would ever be inflicted on a child, which is why we are so pleased and honored to share the proceeds of this incredible act of generosity from our friends in the U.K. with the wonderful CLIC Sargent organization that does so much for kids with cancer.

So do me a favor, buy a ticket and see a great show. By doing so you’ll be taking a stand for everyone, including yourself.

Peace, solidarity and heartfelt thanks,

Barry Crimmins

Can’t make the show? You can still donate here and to CLIC Sargent here.

Get tickets for the show here.

Read Barry’s first message here.

Find out more about the gig here.

   

Barry Crimmins was an American stand-up comedian, political satirist, author of Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal. In the 1990s he led a crusade against images of child abuse on the Internet, calling for police investigation of major US ISPs, in which he was victorious. Crimmins’s life and work in comedy and politics are the subject of the documentary by Bobcat Goldthwait titled Call Me Lucky.

Photo credit: toresetrephoto via Foter.com / CC BY-SA