GWAR's Balsac has cancer; Misfits' Doyle gets eye surgery
Michael Derks, who for almost 30 years has been best known as GWAR guitarist BälSäc the Jaws ‘o Death, has been diagnosed with myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow cancer. He shared his story on blood cancer donor site DKMS:
This summer while I was out on the Warped tour, I began to experience extreme fatigue and weakness. Eventually it got to the point where the people around me insisted that I go to the hospital. I was treated for severe anemia, but extensive testing did not reveal a cause. When I got home, my hemoglobin levels continued to fall and the only course of treatment has been a series blood transfusions to keep my red and white blood cells from dropping to dangerous levels. I went for further testing at the Massey Cancer Center at MCV and the doctors there have diagnosed me with myelofibrosis, a disease that causes scarring inside of the bones and interferes with the marrow’s ability to produce blood cells. If left to run it’s course the doctors say I am most likely to only survive another 3 to 5 years. There is a treatment with a chance of curing my condition, a bone marrow transplant. This procedure involves destroying my diseased bone marrow with high doses of chemotherapy, and then replacing it with healthy marrow from a donor. I will hopefully have the transplant early next year. I will spend a month in the hospital and then at least a year in recovery, where my immune system will be practically non-existent. The procedure has a mortality rate of 30%, but the Massey Center has brought this down to around 15%. With my family’s help and the support of my friends, I will beat this.
Derks also says that “the only thing I can do while the doctors try to find a matching donor is to get myself physically fit, I’ve decided to not let the impending hospitalization keep me from doing what I enjoy most, performing with GWAR.” The band are currently on tour in support of their new album, The Blood of the Gods, and Derks will be using labs all over the country to monitor his blood while on the road. He’s teamed with Love Hope Strength to help find people to join an international registry of donors. Learn more here. Derks is one of the longest-running members of GWAR, with Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha) following a close second. Founder Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) died in 2014.
UPDATE: If you’d like to help Derks specifically, you can donate to “Balsac’s Blood Drive: Michael Derks vs Myelofibrosis.”
GWAR’s tour with Doyle and Ghoul brings them to NYC next week, including a show at Irving Plaza on Halloween night (tickets). The day before Irving Plaza, GWAR’s Pustulus Maximus, The Beserker Blóthar and Jizmak da Gusha will be at Brooklyn Bazaar (10/30) for a “stripped down performance” and live interview (tickets).
In other news, Doyle had to undergo emergency eye surgery on Thursday (10/26) to repair a detached retina, causing him to miss that night’s show in Baltimore, and tonight’s show in New Haven, CT (10/27), but will rejoin the GWAR tour starting with Saturday’s show in Worcester, MA (10/28).
