David Johansen has thanked fans for their support, a week after the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund charity launched a fundraiser to help the last surviving member of the New York Dolls as he faces severe health battles.
Speaking from bed, wife Mara Hennessey sitting at bedside, Johansen says, "I just wanted to thank you all for giving us a big boost here with our fundraising campaign, I guess you would call it. I’ve never asked for help in my life and lately Mara’s been teaching me the beauty of, when your chips are down, asking for help. That’s what I’m doing and it seems to be working out really marvelously."
Johansen broke his back in two places in a fall last year and is now bed-ridden and requires around-the-clock care. This is in addition to the stage 4 cancer he's been fighting for the best part of a decade.
"Five years ago at the beginning of the pandemic we discovered that David’s cancer had progressed and he had a brain tumour," said the singer's daughter Leah Hennessey, when launching the fundraiser. "There have been complications ever since. He’s never made his diagnosis public, as he and my mother Mara are generally very private people, but we feel compelled to share this now, due to the increasingly severe financial burden our family is facing."
“We’ve been living with my illness for a long time, still having fun, seeing friends and family, carrying on, but this tumble the day after Thanksgiving really brought us to a whole new level of debilitation,” Johansen said. “This is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I’ve never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency. Thank you.”
As part of the fundraising effort, Sweet Relief has created a unique David Johansen T-shirt. All proceeds from sales of the shirt will help with the singer's medical bills.
