IRON WILL

What do you know about Guillain Barre Syndrome? Let me tell you what it is, because it sounds like a nightmare.

Guillain Barre (gee-YAH buh-RAY*) is a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and tingling in your extremities are usually the first symptoms. These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body. In its most severe form Guillain-Barre syndrome is a medical emergency. Most people with the condition must be hospitalized to receive treatment.

My friend Will got hit with this recently, and even worse, it happened while he was in Nepal studying with Tibetan monks. Things went from bad to worse when he got Pneumonia, which started triggering seizures. He had to have an emergency tracheotomy and be put on a ventilator. With COVID still pretty out of control in that area of the world, his family wanted to get him back home to Utah ASAP. Problem is, that with all the complications, the only way to do that safely was with an air ambulance—which is very, very expensive. They started a GoFundMe, and were able to raise a good chunk—enough to get him home—but it still wasn't enough for everything he's facing, recovery wise.

We wanted to help, and the only thing we could come up with (short of sharing the GoFundMe link every chance we got) was to put out some music. The group chat got to work, and we decided to do a few covers, put it up on BandCamp, and donate whatever money we made from it to Will's recovery fund. We chose three songs from some old SLCHC bands from the 80's. Massacre Guys, The Stench, and Insight aren't super well known, but they meant a lot to the Salt Lake scene in the early days. We figured that we could raise awareness for Will, while also showing some people a few of the bands that time sort of forgot. It also didn't hurt that each of the three songs were barely a minute long, making it easier for us to get done in a timely manner.

These songs won't be on Spotify or Apple Music, because the goal is raising money, and $0.003 cents per stream doesn't help anyone. You can buy it through BandCamp though, and all the money will go straight to the recovery fund. You can also donate directly to the GoFundMe by following this link.

Go listen, buy it, share the link, and spread the word.

In other Milk Money news, Craft Lake City is planning for an in-person festival this August (providing that everything keeps moving in the right direction), and we're playing on the first night. We'll keep you posted about it through our IG (@milkmoneyrock) and here, I guess, for the 50 people that still read. It will most likely be our first show since February of 2020, and I'm super excited.

*I added the pronunciation because I've been saying it wrong for like a month.