Mark Karan will not tour with Ratdog this summer

Mark is fighting throat cancer. Send all the love and light you have for this very special brother.
he's got a great attitude and love will see him through.
www.markkaran.com
I'm hearing Kimock rumors as a fill in....

Mark is on the right. (Robin Sylvester is the bassist)

 

he's got a great attitude. I've seen immense growth in the past few years, and this is another stage.
here's his announcement:
A Message from MK

ok kids, i know a lot of you have been wondering, so here's the scoop...

i have been diagnosed with a cancer of the throat. it can apparently be a tuff kind to fight, but the good news is that it's "extremely well contained". everything looks really good for getting thru this with hard work and a good attitude. we'll be using chemo, radiation, surgery, accupuncture and any/all the other healing methods that make themselves available. we're gonna breed a multi-headed dragon to help me heal this thing!

while i know this to be an unusual approach, i am not choosing to perceive this as a battle or a fight... or even to see it as a "bad thing". i am doing my best to look at this as the eastern medicine people might. the chinese word for "crisis" is synonymous with "opportunity".
i am trying to see this experience as an opportunity for growth. to do this, i am doing my best to bless this cancer and thank it for the "wake-up call" it has brought that is demanding that i make long needed changes in my diet, activity and attitude and begin to truly care for myself. i believe in the long run this experience can be of great value to me and possibly even be valuable to many of my friends, family and fans (also my "family"). having already begun to embody some of these changes, i now feel that the message has been successfully delivered and that it is time for the messenger, the cancer, to move on. it is no longer needed here. that is my current mission... to move it out of my body.

it is not time for me to leave the planet yet. i have faith that i'll be around for a long while. any thoughts, meditations and/or prayers any of you offer are more than welcomed. e-mails are best sent to my website at mk2@markkaran.com, as both maile's and my inbox have already been absolutely overloaded with tons of good wishes! i am truly blessed by all the concern and wonderful kynd thoughts i have already received. thank you.

it's likely to be a tough road for a while, but i truly believe this too shall pass and "that which does not kill us makes us stronger". i will not be touring this summer. i'll be staying home and healing, building strength and hopefully joining you all again this fall.

meanwhile, we're doing our best here at home to stay up & positive. it's not always easy and we haven't even started the treatments yet, but i have a LOT of faith that i'll come thru it all ok... maybe even better than ever.


again, any good energy you can generate for this transition will be greatly appreciated.

Should I ever face cancer, I hope I'm half as graceful as Mark has been.

Crisis = opportunity

 

we are all hoping his transformation is positive.
I misspoke when I called his treatment "fighting."
He's taking the change needed in my life view.
I've known Mark several years and this energy is why I love him so.

 

update: Mark is in hospital. He is getting some aggressive chemo: one week in hospital hooked up, two weeks off.
Say goodbye to that lovely mane of hair.
He had dental surgery Saturday, so we can assume he feels rotten today.
Send love & good thoughts/ prayers/ etc, please.
His sweetie will be staying with him in hospital.

 

got an email. Usual upbeat Mark. Day three of chemo yesterday, so today is his hump day. He'll head to the house for two weeks to recoup and gain energy for round two.

 

after this week on a drip, Mark's tumor is noticeably smaller. His hair's going, and he's thinking of shaving his head.
Still VERY upbeat.

 

Update 2/4/2008:
Mark goes in for tests this week. everyone, PLEASE send good energy/ prayers/ vibes whatever.
We are hoping for an all clear!

His hair is growing back curly.

 

today's news: CANCER FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
he's looking to get back on the road with his dawg brothers!

 

I went and crawled around PollStar and the $40 show is low average, given the size of many of the venues.
Since the venue where I work part time caps at $30, that was good news for me, but our large room is only 300 people.
The Show, I'm betting on Red Rocks, and I think I'll see if I can get Mark in some Blues trio for the off night they usually have here.

 

sweet days they were.
I painted on Sunday.

do start a local jam band thread.