TRAVIS JOHNSON, bassist for U.S.A. metal warriors IN THIS MOMENT needs financial help with his wife MICHELLE'S hospice care as she is dying from cancer. A GO FUND ME has been set up to fund MICHELLE JOHNSON'S care.
FROM CHRIS BRODERICK (IN FLAMES):
I've only briefly met Travis Johnson from In This Moment, but he's one of us. Travis is dealing with his wife's hospice care and mounting bills, and as a touring musician if you're not touring, you're not earning. If you can, please help.
This is hard. Thinking about the people you love dying is hard.
Asking for help is hard. And watching someone young and vibrant
valiantly fight an illness only to have the disease win is often almost
unbearable. But yet, here we are. And here I write on behalf of my dear
friends Michelle and Travis Johnson, asking for help as her battle with
cancer is coming to an end.
On October 27, 2023 our dear Michele was given 2 weeks to live and
moved to in home hospice. She first began fighting breast cancer 6 years
ago. She kicked its ass, but it then spread to her brain. She has been a
warrior, fighting hard every step of the way, while still smiling,
cracking jokes, and shining her light to those of us who are lucky
enough to know and love her.
Her journey has not been easy, and as doctors advised that
treatment be stopped, friends, family, and her loving husband Travis
prepared for the worst to come quickly. But Michelle did what she always
has done... she kept fighting. Now, over 2 and a half months after
being told she would survive 2 weeks at best, she is still with us.
Travis has been by her side 24/7 since she was moved to hospice. He
cares for her morning, noon, and night, administering medications,
taking care of her personal care, cooking, cleaning, and tending to
every need she has moment to moment. He has been unable to work for
months as he cannot leave her side.
But Michelle's health is declining and her time with us is quite
limited. The ultimate outcome will not be what anyone wished for, but my
hope is that with this fundraiser, we can take some additional stress
off of Travis as he spends what time is left with her. As wonderful of a
caregiver as he has been, her care is quickly becoming more than he can
manage alone, making it necessary to get more assistance which is of
course an added expense. There will be funeral costs as well, and we
want Travis to be able to just focus on Michelle and not have to worry
about the immediate future.
If you've read this far, you either know and love Michelle and
Travis or you've connected to her story in some way. These kinds of
requests are immensely difficult to write. You struggle to find exactly
the right words in the hopes that you can convince someone to open their
heart and to give, choosing and discarding those words over and over.
How do you express on a page how important, how amazing or how loved a
person is? How do you convince someone to sacrifice something, whether
it's the time it takes to donate or giving up the fancy latte to do it,
to help out another human being? I really hope that something I've said
here, or more likely something she's done for you, has moved you to the
decision to help.
Thank you, much love, and tons of gratitude.