Support Mike Freeman

Much Loved:

Jenn, the love of Mike’s live, has created a new page for you to share you own memory of Mike.  You can share pictures, songs, poems, ANYTHING.  Please visit the site and leave your memory.

http://mike.freeman.muchloved.com/

Message from Joel:

In the spring of 2008, my band mate and best friend Mike Freeman started to show some alarming symptoms that were definitely out of the ordinary. Mike was having vision problems and numbness in his left arm. But probably the most alarming was the memory trouble. I’ve been playing music with Mike for years and he never forgot how to play a song…well, there was the occasional, but rare, “too many drinks” scenario. The scariest part was that these were songs we’d played for years, and he was forgetting all of them! I remember telling him, “I don’t want to sound alarming, but you may want to get to the doctor as soon as possible, because there’s a possibility you may have something affecting your brain.”

Mike did visit the doctor but they found nothing out of the ordinary and told him to get more exercise and eat better. Gina Go Faster played our last show on May 4th and after following the advice from the doctor his symptoms were still getting worse, but it didn’t stop Mike from making it to work and trying to live life like he always had. (Mike has never been one to call in sick.)  After seeing Mike in really bad shape, a coworker and friend urged Mike to go to the emergency room to find out what was wrong with him.

On the 26th of May 2008 our good friend Mike Freeman was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor, also known as GBM.

GBM is the most common and aggressive form of brain tumor. It is unknown what causes this tumor; unlike some brain tumors that spread from other cancer cells in the body, it starts in the brain. The treatment in Mike’s case was the initial biopsy surgery to determine what sort of tumor Mike had. After his biopsy, Mike got a second opinion from another neurosurgeon, who said that the risks of the surgery outweighed the benefits. So early after diagnosis, the risk of Mike not walking again or not waking up was too great. Mike is currently undergoing radiotherapy and three types of chemotherapy (including some more experimental treatments considered biotherapy). There is a possibility that Mike will be able to receive Gamma Knife if the initial treatments are beneficial in shrinking the tumor.

The tumor, therapy, and medications can be very taxing on the body and mind, but Mike has stayed positive and strong throughout. Seeing things for how they are and taking them head on has always been one of Mike’s strong traits. Mike’s great attitude has been prevalent through this whole process, an attribute most of us have benefited from at some time or another. On a recent visit to Mike he was still throwing out witty one-liners and enjoying having friends around him. Mike’s fight is not an easy one to take on, but because Mike believes in himself, so does everyone around him. When you believe, as Mike does, you will always prevail in the end.

There has been a great response from people everywhere, and with your help we can make it even better for Mike. Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and donations because they are helping greatly. If we all have a positive mantra for Mike, it can only improve his situation even more. Mike is already looking past this to the time he will be on the stage rocking again. “Mike will rock again!” is my mantra. What’s yours?

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