Drummer Sara Lund of Unwound has said that she’s been diagnosed with breast cancer, taking to Instagram over the weekend to share the news.
“Dearest people, 6 months ago I had the delightful misfortune of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Invasive Lobular Carcinoma with lymph node involvement,” Sara Lund wrote. “Since then I have had lots of tests, waiting, surgeries, more tests, more waiting, and radiation. The diagnosis came right in the middle of a big move and I have been unable to establish a new teaching practice or find other work in my new city of Tacoma. It has been a brutally anxious several months with bills piling up and my energy sapped by treatments and recovery.”
“I was lucky to have caught this early with a routine mammogram,” she continued. “Allow me to use this as a public service announcement: GET YOUR MAMMOGRAMS AND COLONOSCOPIES! I was completely caught off guard by this and had no clue I was carrying this disease around in me.”
A GoFundMe crowdsourcing campaign has been launched by fellow drummer Janet Weiss (ex-Sleater-Kinney, Quasi) with the target of raising USD 25,000 to help pay for medical bills, as well as rent, lost teaching income, etc., with Lund having recently relocated to Tacoma.
“Being a lifer indie musician in no way prepares you for this type of financial setback,” Weiss wrote in the fundraiser’s description. “Although the doctors have given Sara the ok to play a few Unwound shows if she feels up to it, those won’t make her nearly enough money to traverse the many months of treatment and recovery. This is where the GoFundMe comes in.”
Weiss was also involved in a horrific car accident five years ago, which broke both of her legs and her collarbone. A GoFundMe campaign similar to this supported her and her partner during the two-plus years it took the drummer to regain her coordination, with donations relieving the financial burden and having “kept me afloat while my formidable recovery stretched on.” She recounted, “My sincere hope is we can pull together and do the same for Sara Lund.”
The Pacific Northwest post-hardcore mavericks Unwound reunited for their first tour in the 20-plus years since their 2002 breakup. The entire drumming community will be thinking of the group during this difficult time.