Only four months after Geneviève Castrée (who has recorded as Woelv and Ô Paon) gave birth to her daughter with Phil Elverum (of Mount Eerie and the Microphones) last year, she was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Elverum made this news public with a GoFundMe page launched yesterday that seeks donations to help pay for Castrée’s treatment.
Elverum wrote:
“Over the course of the past year+, our community and family have come together to help with baby care and food and logistics and some money. Insurance has protected us from the most devastating of the medical expenses (after a very high deductible), but the many peripheral costs that aren’t covered by insurance have totally depleted our savings, money we had slowly accumulated from so many years of grinding it out as self-employed artist/musicians, now with a baby.”
“Until now, for Geneviève, the mental peace of not having everyone know she was sick, and the psychic vibes that come with that, have prevented us from making any kind of announcement or request for help, but at this point our financial worry is tipping the scales.
We are asking the world to please donate money to us. Treatment is ongoing. Nobody in our household has been able to work for over a year. Geneviève has not made any new work. Phil has not made any music or been able to perform or do anything. Life is 100% occupied by this humongous medical battle (plus the already overwhelming reality of raising a baby with less than 2 fully available parents). We don’t know what the future holds and how long this uncertainty will last. In any case, the amount we’ve spent over the last year alone has left us in a precarious financial position as a family.”
