Devourment guitarist Chris Andrews is battling brain cancer and could use your help. Andrews originally had a brain tumor removed nearly 10 years ago, and unfortunately had a much larger one removed earlier this month. A GoFundMe organized by Chris' mother Melinda Andrews can be found here to help with medical bills and living expenses.
We wish Chris all the best.
"Hi, my name is Melinda Andrews and I am raising funds for my son Chris Andrews' brain cancer treatment," wrote Melinda. "His brain tumor returned after being removed almost ten years ago. This time his brain tumor was three times the size of the original tumor and has the highest grade of cancer at grade 4. His brain surgery was at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and most of the tumor was removed.
"He will need radiation and chemotherapy for six weeks, and continued chemotherapy for a year. We need funds to pay for his medical expenses including brain surgery, hospital stays, radiation, chemotherapy, traveling to Houston, and staying in hotels in Houston for eight weeks. Chris has had to miss a lot of work so his income has been significantly reduced. His insurance is mediocre and refusing to pay for some of the procedures."
Devourment also offered the following comment: "We haven't really gotten into why Chris Andrews is not playing guitar with us currently on the Slam Tour of the Year, because we didn't truly know what was going on with him until about a month ago. When we were putting this tour together, he was having severe anxiety issues, including but not limited to a strong fear of having a seizure or some sort of physical breakdown on stage in the middle of a show. It turns out, at the center of all of this, Chris had a rapidly developing brain tumor.
"It was discovered via magnetic resonance imaging on 4/20/23 – 6cm long, 6cm wide, and 6cm tall – a 2 inch cube of cancer cells was literally living rent-free in his head. His mother sought out the best care available, and found MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, just a couple hours from Chris's home in Austin. On 5/9, Chris underwent a frontal craniotomy and tumor resection surgery. He is already recovering from brain surgery miraculously well. He is going to receive radiation treatment with chemotherapy through June and the first half of July, and then chemotherapy by itself for 12 months.
"Please consider donating if you have anything to spare. Every little bit counts towards the massive amount of costs that will be incurred through this war on cancer. These costs include medical bills insurance may possibly decline to pay, and extraordinary living expenses that will pile on top of the fact that he is unable to work and receive the regular income of his full salary."
