Hope this message finds y’all having a great one! We’re filling dates and looking forward to coming to see everyone, but we do have some health news in our orbit that MIGHT see some different configurations for some upcoming shows. We’ll let Kim tell you in her own words:
Good day, everyone! Hope you’re all doing well!
We have some health news we felt the need to share with everyone, especially if it leads to some show cancellations or the like. Right now, that doesn’t look to be the case, but that’s if everything goes along the path of the best-case scenario…and life sometimes has its own plans.
Back in December, Sam and I went for an evening stroll with friends to look at Christmas lights on the coldest night of the year. While we were plenty warm, we did not really think of the repercussions of what breathing air in the low-teens/single-digits would do to the throats of tropical beings like us. While Sam’s throat corrected itself pretty quickly, mine did not.
If you attended the LCFA Open Mic at the end of December, you heard my voice cut completely out. If you saw our first show back in January, you may have noticed some staples of our setlist having been dropped and replaced with deeper cuts. That was all due to a loss of my upper vocal register and, oddly, the addition of some extra lower notes in my range.
Fortunately, this led to a trip to an ENT to find the cause of the issue. During an ultrasound on my throat, the tech found some abnormalities around my thyroid and lymph nodes. These were not the cause of the vocal issue, but something they wanted to look at.
The vocal issue has been largely taken care of through visits with a speech therapist, which has returned my upper range and even helped me maintain the lower notes. For that, we’re grateful.
After undergoing tests on the nodules found during the ultrasound, it was discovered that I have thyroid cancer which has affected my left side lymph nodes, as well. I will soon be undergoing surgery to have my thyroid and those lymph nodes removed. The aforementioned “best-case scenario” is a clean removal and a 7-day full recovery with the ability to sing by the day after the surgery. We were shocked by this quick turnaround, but coming from the largest medical facilities in the US, we’re taking their word for it.
We’re not really going to take the time to discuss the worst-case options, as we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it, but right now, we’re believing in the trained professionals that do this day in and day out that recovery will be swift and I will return to my normal self.
As a breast cancer survivor, I know this will just be a bump in the road and I’ll be ready to get back to making music and trouble in no time.
We’ll keep everyone updated and we’ll see you at our upcoming shows.
– Kim
That’s it for now, just wanted to give y’all a head’s up. Surgery will be on April 4th, so the Dan Electros show with Grifters & Shills might see some limited action from Kim, but hopefully this doesn’t interrupt her life too much and she’s back to doing what she loves: rocking out with Brightwire!
That’s it for now, just wanted to give y’all a head’s up. Surgery will be on April 4th, so the Dan Electros show with Grifters & Shills might see some limited action from Kim, but hopefully this doesn’t interrupt her life too much and she’s back to doing what she loves: rocking out with Brightwire!