Two weeks ago, former Testament/Death guitarist turned producer James Murphy had revealed that there was a chance his brain tumor, which had been showing great signs of improvement, had suddenly increased in size. Since then, we’ve been hoping for the best and that good news would come following Murphy’s MRI. Fortunately, Murphy now reports that the tumor has only grown a little and that surgery and radiation therapy is not needed (for the time being).
Murphy gave the following update via his Facebook account:
“After meeting with my doctor yesterday, I finally have the results of my recent MRI, and the prognosis for my immediate future: the tumor only grew a little, so no surgery is needed, and radiation therapy has been, at least for the moment, ruled out. We will treat the new growth pharmacologically by increasing my dose of the hormone inhibitor I currently take, or switching to the other (better but more expensive) drug that can treat my particular condition.
So I will have another MRI in 6 months to see if the pharmacological treatment has worked. In the meantime, the dose they want me to take of my current prescription would leave me wiped out for most of each day… 5 pills per day is just too much of that particular drug, so I hope to be able to upgrade to the better drug, of which i’d have to take far less, and thus suffer far less side-effects, and be able to function normally.
The really good news is that the funds raised by my good friends Deron Miller & his wife Felissa Rose Esposito Miller has paid outright for the MRI, blood-work, and other lab tests I’ve had to have in relation to this so far, and whatever else they raise from here should allow me to afford the switch to the more expensive prescription, which will in turn allow me to function normally, keep working, and not go bankrupt. I owe a huge thanks to them, as well as to all of you that have reached out, contributed, wished me well, and sent me your good vibes…. thanks to you all!”
Murphy still has a long road ahead of him in his battle. However, we’re extremely glad to hear that the results showed only small growth, and that the funds raised by CKY/World Under Blood’s Deron Miller (who worked with Murphy on World Under Blood’s debut album) and his wife have been able to help the guitarist/producer. We’ll continue to hope for the best for Murphy as he keeps kicking his tumor in the ass.
