AN INSPIRATIONAL STORY FOR ALL
The Hay Family & Slayer…
I won’t go too far back into the darkness of it all, but this happened last year when my husband became very ill and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and a secondary rare disease. My husband went through chemotherapy twice, both attempts failed. This story starts when the 3rd and last treatment option was not working either. We had decided it was time to start being honest with friends and family, my husband David wasn’t going to get better. The rest of his time here was going to be short and painful.
All of this was awful, sad, exhausting, maddening and insane for my husband, myself and our children. There were days I didn’t think I could do it. Long nights in the hospital. Days I woke up wondering if it would be the last day with my husband. But, one thing always to help us get through… the soundtrack to our fight… it was Slayer! Their music inspired us to fucking fight. It gave us a voice to words we didn’t have the heart to say…
It went like this…
While staring at my computer, unable to think or work, exhausted, I saw this post from a former client and wonderful musician Mick Schafer…
Mick had no clue that this question: 'Stop the violence?' is the perfect Segway for religiously devoted Slayer fans, like my family. One of our favorite Slayer songs is "Threshold", and it says, “I can’t stop the violence, I love it” The second I saw this post, I jumped online to show David and our son Skyler. I sent a text to them saying “Holy shit guys, you would not believe what Mick just posted…” but before I could even screenshot the post and send it, Skyler our youngest son answered back “yeah… I know” and this…
He sent the lyrics to "Threshold," this is the actual screenshot of the message we got back from him. This is always the part I get to and stop, then delete the entire thing and promise to someday share our story with the hope it will inspire someone during their fight. I do not know how to explain it, I guess it is just the power of music… but this is the day that Skyler, our youngest son and the only one of our children still at home… Our 11-year-old who had stay with family so he didn’t see the horrors of chemotherapy or sit next to me during long days spent at the hospital… This day our son found his voice. This is the day we decided to keep fighting. There are things an 11 year old doesn’t have the voice to say… things like “I want to go home, but dad is sick” or “I know mom, My dad is never going to get better”… But on that day Skyler realized that music would be his voice. There is nothing more inspirational than voice of a child, to make you keep fighting.
What happened after this day, is out of this world…
Over the next 2 weeks, Skyler wrote his very own thrash metal song for dad called “Eat Cake and Murder,” which was his way of telling his dad, I know you’re not going to get better, and instead of being sad, I will celebrate the rest of our days together.
David loved it! He loved it so much, it inspired him to pick up an old junk guitar we had sitting in the garage and 'start messing' around on it. I heard David playing speed metal on a broken child’s acoustic and thought… “we’ve got to get this man a guitar!” We had to sell all of David’s guitars to pay medical expenses. So, I emailed my mentor and music business guru Sally Custer, asking for help. Sally has been my knight and shining armor through all this and she knows how important it is for a thrash metal musician to have a guitar. Just a few days later I got notice that a kid named Spencer Schillinger from a local guitar shop, heard our story from Sally and bought David a guitar! This is what Spencer brought my husband David… BC Rich Kerry King Metal Master Warlock!
David has played this guitar almost every day since then. The doctors told us David would lose the use of his arms completely, as the rare disease is eating his spinal cord. They were wrong! Because David has been playing the guitar every day he is able, he has regained the feeling in almost all 5 fingers on his left hand. Right after David got this guitar, it was announced that Slayer would be playing their final tour. This would be the last time they played, and the last time David would be around to see them… Unfortunately, they were not coming to the Northwest. David was too sick to travel, and we could not afford it. Using my connections in the music business I found every email for every member of Slayer’s crew I could find, and I emailed them every day for 2 weeks. I told them the story and asked if they would just help David see their show one last time.
Now… I’m not saying I had anything to do with it, but 2 weeks later Slayer announced another show. One Northwest show they were playing, in Clark County WA. David and I have Tickets, for August 23th 2018.
August 23th 2018 is a date I never thought we would get too. Now, it’s right around the corner. I am ecstatic to report that finally; the treatments are working! They are not a cure, but they hold back the disease enough to give us more time with David, when before that timeline was so unsure. Also, our son Skyler is back!! Slow at first, but Dad and Skyler are now together 4 days per week!!! Unlike before, he can even hang out with dad on his own. I don’t have to be around in case of the worse. David, Skyler and I went grocery shopping together for the first-time last month. It had been so long since the 3 of us were out together and it was amazing. This was an incredible hard fight, and we couldn’t have done it without the support from the PDX music community. We could not have done it without the voice of Slayer in our heads telling us to keep fucking fighting.
So, that is my Slayer Story. Our story of the power of music. Thank you for allowing me to share it with you.
The Hay Family & Slayer…
I won’t go too far back into the darkness of it all, but this happened last year when my husband became very ill and was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and a secondary rare disease. My husband went through chemotherapy twice, both attempts failed. This story starts when the 3rd and last treatment option was not working either. We had decided it was time to start being honest with friends and family, my husband David wasn’t going to get better. The rest of his time here was going to be short and painful.
All of this was awful, sad, exhausting, maddening and insane for my husband, myself and our children. There were days I didn’t think I could do it. Long nights in the hospital. Days I woke up wondering if it would be the last day with my husband. But, one thing always to help us get through… the soundtrack to our fight… it was Slayer! Their music inspired us to fucking fight. It gave us a voice to words we didn’t have the heart to say…
It went like this…
While staring at my computer, unable to think or work, exhausted, I saw this post from a former client and wonderful musician Mick Schafer…
Mick had no clue that this question: 'Stop the violence?' is the perfect Segway for religiously devoted Slayer fans, like my family. One of our favorite Slayer songs is "Threshold", and it says, “I can’t stop the violence, I love it” The second I saw this post, I jumped online to show David and our son Skyler. I sent a text to them saying “Holy shit guys, you would not believe what Mick just posted…” but before I could even screenshot the post and send it, Skyler our youngest son answered back “yeah… I know” and this…
He sent the lyrics to "Threshold," this is the actual screenshot of the message we got back from him. This is always the part I get to and stop, then delete the entire thing and promise to someday share our story with the hope it will inspire someone during their fight. I do not know how to explain it, I guess it is just the power of music… but this is the day that Skyler, our youngest son and the only one of our children still at home… Our 11-year-old who had stay with family so he didn’t see the horrors of chemotherapy or sit next to me during long days spent at the hospital… This day our son found his voice. This is the day we decided to keep fighting. There are things an 11 year old doesn’t have the voice to say… things like “I want to go home, but dad is sick” or “I know mom, My dad is never going to get better”… But on that day Skyler realized that music would be his voice. There is nothing more inspirational than voice of a child, to make you keep fighting.
What happened after this day, is out of this world…
Over the next 2 weeks, Skyler wrote his very own thrash metal song for dad called “Eat Cake and Murder,” which was his way of telling his dad, I know you’re not going to get better, and instead of being sad, I will celebrate the rest of our days together.
David loved it! He loved it so much, it inspired him to pick up an old junk guitar we had sitting in the garage and 'start messing' around on it. I heard David playing speed metal on a broken child’s acoustic and thought… “we’ve got to get this man a guitar!” We had to sell all of David’s guitars to pay medical expenses. So, I emailed my mentor and music business guru Sally Custer, asking for help. Sally has been my knight and shining armor through all this and she knows how important it is for a thrash metal musician to have a guitar. Just a few days later I got notice that a kid named Spencer Schillinger from a local guitar shop, heard our story from Sally and bought David a guitar! This is what Spencer brought my husband David… BC Rich Kerry King Metal Master Warlock!
David has played this guitar almost every day since then. The doctors told us David would lose the use of his arms completely, as the rare disease is eating his spinal cord. They were wrong! Because David has been playing the guitar every day he is able, he has regained the feeling in almost all 5 fingers on his left hand. Right after David got this guitar, it was announced that Slayer would be playing their final tour. This would be the last time they played, and the last time David would be around to see them… Unfortunately, they were not coming to the Northwest. David was too sick to travel, and we could not afford it. Using my connections in the music business I found every email for every member of Slayer’s crew I could find, and I emailed them every day for 2 weeks. I told them the story and asked if they would just help David see their show one last time.
Now… I’m not saying I had anything to do with it, but 2 weeks later Slayer announced another show. One Northwest show they were playing, in Clark County WA. David and I have Tickets, for August 23th 2018.
August 23th 2018 is a date I never thought we would get too. Now, it’s right around the corner. I am ecstatic to report that finally; the treatments are working! They are not a cure, but they hold back the disease enough to give us more time with David, when before that timeline was so unsure. Also, our son Skyler is back!! Slow at first, but Dad and Skyler are now together 4 days per week!!! Unlike before, he can even hang out with dad on his own. I don’t have to be around in case of the worse. David, Skyler and I went grocery shopping together for the first-time last month. It had been so long since the 3 of us were out together and it was amazing. This was an incredible hard fight, and we couldn’t have done it without the support from the PDX music community. We could not have done it without the voice of Slayer in our heads telling us to keep fucking fighting.
So, that is my Slayer Story. Our story of the power of music. Thank you for allowing me to share it with you.