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Several Bands Perform for Crysel Family Benefit at Galileo’s Restaurant and Bar on Wednesday, April 18

Story by Jesse Wood

April 16, 2012. Galileo’s hosts a benefit for the Crysel Family on Wednesday, April 16, from 6 to 10 p.m. Performing at the benefit are Asani Howell, Brian Swanson, Inverted Sea with Kelly Mo and Nate Harris and Jesse Wood. A silent auction will be held and raffle tickets will be sold at the door for $5 and $10 prize groupings donated by local businesses. Cover charge for the event is $5. (Check out YouTube videos of the bands playing at the bottom of the page.)

Background Info on Lucas Crysel’s Condition

On January 9, 2011, Lucas Crysel went to the hospital for a pain in his left shoulder/neck and thought he pulled a muscle. Turns out, x-rays of his shoulder and chest illuminated a very large tumor which collapsed his left lung; was pushing his heart over the middle of his chest; and was pressing on his spleen and diaphragm. After two biopsies, he was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, typically a teenage cancer of the bones and soft tissue.

Thirty-two Sarcoma specialists exist in the world, and one of them, Dr. Paul Savage, works at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, where Lucas is now a patient. The chemotherapy process without surgery would last 51 weeks. With surgery, it looks as if treatment will take 18- to 24-months long. The Crysel’s will have to travel to and from the High Country during this process while the family of four is supported on one income.

Lucas has two small children, Luke, 6, and Judd, 2. His wife Wendy works at Troy’s Diner. Lucas doesn’t have health insurance, and an estimate of his hospital bills range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. So far, with the initial visit, scans, x-rays, two biopsies and three weeks of chemotherapy and expensive medication, his cost of treatment to date is $90,000.

The current prognosis is good, though. Doctors have told Lucas that his cancer has not spread anywhere and “as of right now, this is curable.”

How Can You Help?

Come out to the benefit at Galileo’s on Wednesday, April 16, from 6 to 10 p.m. Listen to live music, enjoy good food and drink, all while supporting a good cause and helping a family of the High Country. Any donations of products or gift certificates would be immensely appreciated. For more information, contact Kelly Braswell at 828-406-5466 or call Sandy Byrum at 828-898-7368. Galileo’s is located at 1087 West King Street. Their phone number is 828-265-9591. 

Want To Listen?

Nate Harris (guitar) and Jesse Wood (mandolin); At the benefit, Harris and Wood will perform as a guitar and upright bass duo.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sREoYGwAHr0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmt0eBJsGkE[/youtube]