Earlier this week, New York Dolls’ David Johansen revealed that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. His daughter, Leah Hennessey, launched a Sweet Relief fundrasier to help cover the cost of his treatment, and on Friday (Feb. 14) he and his wife Mara shared a video expressing gratitude for the support.
"Hello everybody. I just wanted to thank you all for giving us a big boost here with our fundraising campaign, I guess you would call it," Johansen — who also goes by the pseudonym Buster Poindexter — says in the clip. "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."
In the fundraiser, Hennessey explains that Johansen has been undergoing intensive cancer treatment for “most of the past decade,” and in 2020 he developed a brain tumor. She wrote:
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. To make matters worse, the day after Thanksgiving David fell down the stairs and broke his back in two places. After a week in the hospital and a successful surgery David has been bedridden and incapacitated. Due to the trauma, David’s illness has progressed exponentially and my mother is caring for him around the clock.
Watch the video below, and considering purchasing a benefit T-shirt here.
