Fundraiser Launched Following Former Pendulum Member Ben Verse's Cancer Diagnosis
“The road to rehabilitation will be a long one and Ben will need a lot of care and support to bring him back to the person we all know and love.”
Pendulum Performing Live (Credit: Terry Soo)
A fundraiser has been launched to aid former Pendulum MC Ben Verse (aka Ben Mount) on his road to recovery following a diagnosis of acute monoblastic leukemia.
The GoFundMe campaign was launched by Ben’s brother Jeremy, who explained that the musician’s health issues had began back in August following a trip to the hospital which discovered “a superbug called pseudomonas aeruginosa: a rapidly-growing, antibiotic evasive/resistant bacteria forming an abscess in one of his lungs”.
“Things got a lot worse and at the start of September, Ben was rushed to the main hospital in Palma and put in an induced coma,” Jeremy explained. “The situation got worse and for 6 weeks there were times that nothing was working, as the bacteria mutated faster than the lab could identify the changes.
“The doctors tried a continuously evolving combination of antibiotics; he was the first person in Spain to use a specialised rotating bed; doctors around the world were investigating his case.
“We were told on a couple of occasions that it was doubtful he would survive,” he added. “Each day brought a new calamity/issue: sepsis, bleeding, haematoma, a heart attack, another procedure, another tube…”
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Jeremy continued that Ben came out of the ICU, only to be diagnosed with acute monoblastic leukemia three weeks later, necessitating chemotherapy treatment.
“Finally, after over 4 months in hospital it looks like Ben will soon be able to return home,” Jeremy continued. “However, he has lost half his body weight.. still has the abscess with the use of only one lung, can't yet walk and is currently on his second round of chemotherapy.
“The road to rehabilitation will be a long one and Ben will need a lot of care and support to bring him back to the person we all know and love.”
Since the campaign was launched just two weeks ago, close to £59,000 have been raised – far exceeding its initial goal of £20,000. As Jeremy explains, the donations will be used to aid Ben and his family with the costs associated with nursing care, mobility solutions, and childcare for his two daughters.
“One of the things that has kept Ben going is the support of his family and friends around the world,” Jeremy added. “When he first got his phone back after being out for over 2 months, he was blown away by the number of messages, well wishes, and love.
“He has been writing some music since coming out of the coma for everyone to have access to, but it will need finishing, mastering etc etc. Ben doesn’t want it to be a charity, but right now we need to reach out to everyone that knows him and wants to help at this extremely difficult and stressful time.”
Ben Verse joined the Perth-born Pendulum in 2006 following the group’s move to England. Though a staple of their live shows, he was not heard on record until 2010’s Immersion, which became the group’s biggest-selling album – reaching #3 in Australia and topping the UK charts.
Ben would depart Pendulum around 2017, though has remained active as a musician since. Late last month, he released the track Recovery via his Bandcamp page, with additional contributions from Youngsta and Cimm.
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