Please help New Zealand’s iconic Celtic musician Steve McDonald with his battle with cancer

Every once in a while you find yourself telling a story you hoped you'd never need to tell.

Our dad, a New Zealand music treasure, has spent his life bringing music to the world; and through it, that unique blend of healing, comfort and peace it so often brings.

Below are just a few, randomly selected, comments from YouTube uploads of his songs; spanning years and continents.

“…i listen to this when i am sad and lifts my spirits…”

“Played this song at my sons funeral. So touching not a dry eye in the church…”

“Im at peace thank you Steve McDonald”

“This song grabs hold of your heart… Thank you for expressing words to the tears that were shed for so many lost throughout the centuries.”

“This stirs my soul...”

“…For my grand father who I never knew....”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JyjLSe15_c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTQuNBjxQpA

Part of the human experience, for far too many of us, seems to be dealing with the trauma of cancer. For us, his kids, the diagnosis can sometimes feel like the weight of the world, taking up all the oxygen in the room.

In 2018 he was diagnosed with skin cancer, and has undergone surgery, (where those of us who’ve always wanted to see inside his creative head got more than they asked for); radiation and two forms of chemo, all to no avail.

His type of cancer isn’t eligible for funding of the drug that has turned around the lives of others.

If his skin cancer were melanoma, he’d be receiving this treatment, funded, already. The fact that his skin cancer is an aggressive form of squamous cell, means he must fund it himself.

And as if having cancer itself isn’t bad enough, having the “wrong type” of cancer just feels like the last twist of cruel fate.

A quick google of Keytruder costs in New Zealand reveals the disparity between countries and cancers that are funded. Having faced every alternative avenue offered to him, with the sort of attitude and humility that is nothing short of remarkable, we now we need to bridge the financial gap so that our dad, too, can receive the treatment he needs.

“And it hurts, but it’s true, when you pray to the blue;

And so you reveal, that nothing is real…

nothing but you…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBKGbiZPYoc