Metal community rallying around Grim Reaper’s Steve Grimmett to raise funds
Metal community rallying around Grim Reaper’s Steve Grimmett to raise funds
Grim Reaper frontman Steve Grimmett has been stuck in a hospital in Ecuador since January 14, 2017 and has also lost a good portion of his right leg during that time due to a very serious infection that was spreading rapidly. Although the singer had travel health insurance, his insurance carrier has apparently refused to cover the medical bills meaning that Grimmett is out of pocket thousands of dollars which continue to mount the longer he is in Ecuador. A crowd funding campaign was started to assist Grimmett in that regard.
As can be expected with the metal community, it has rallied around the ailing singer. Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice streamed an announcement earlier today from Steve Grimmett and his wife Millie on how the singer is doing and how the metal community is rallying to help him raise funds to cover the ever increasing medical bills.
The following press release was issued earlier today from The Metal Voice (with slight edits):
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice streamed live into the hospital in Ecuador where Steve Grimmett (Grim Reaper singer) and wife Millie Grimmett updated their fans on Steve‘s medical condition. Also joining the show Tony Dolan (Venom Inc) and former singer of Anthrax, Neil Turbin.
Two announcements were made during the show, the first a fundraising show in their hometown of Swindon, England on April 1 organized by Brian Keene at the Riff’s Bar.
The second announcement was well known metal artists coming together to re-record a Grim Reaper song to help raise funds towards Steve Grimmett to cover medical and recovery costs. The project is spearheaded by Tony Dolan and aided by Neil Turbin (ex Anthrax) and Sy Keeler (Onslaught). The contribution artists include Gary Holt (Slayer, Exodus), Ripper Owens (ex Judas Priest), Doro Pesch, Lips (Anvil), Neil Turbin (Deathriders), Sy Keeler (Onslaught), Bobby Blitz (Overkill), Nick Bowcott (ex Grim Reaper), John Gallagher (Raven), Mantas (Venom) and more to be announced soon. The song will be produced by Chris Tsangarides (Judas Priest).
Millie Grimmett gave The Metal Voice a medical status update on Steve‘s present condition, “He has had four operations now, yesterday he had an operation to clean the wound a bit more, open it up a bit, put a drain in there to stop any further infections. So far the infection has stabilized. They have not stitched the wound up it’s still open, they got a drain in there they are hoping it might help stop any infections. He can’t fly until ten days after a big operation, so the earliest he can fly is this Friday. You got the high altitude because of the pressure of the plane, you have the risks of blood clotting, bleeding again, wounds opening so we have to make sure he can actually survive the flight because in total it is 19 hours door to door and we have to get two planes, it’s a gruelling journey for everybody “
Millie went on, “I have a meeting with the doctor tomorrow morning to discuss how he is doing and recovery and there is another treatment they can use, using oxygen. So we are hoping they might be able to do that over the next few days. which could speed up the process of recovery. the donations have helped the both of us. Now I am here, Steve has perked up a bit and it makes me feel a bit better to see him but we are still alone out here and we want to go home. “
Millie commented about the Hospital Staff, “They are very friendly, very nice, even though we both don’t speak the same language, we still have a laugh, making Steve laugh, making him smile, they do what they can with what they got, they don’t have the same resources here. Steve said to me the other day that, last week he was in a ward downstairs and gentleman by him had heart failure and they didn’t have a defibrillator so unfortunately the gentleman died, they did all they could, they have done a great job with Steve.”
Lying on his hospital bed, Steve Grimmett said a few words, “I am very humbled I didn’t realize that I meant so much to other people, I got no words other than THANK YOU and when I am out on my new leg, I’m going to come out and sing for a big party.”
Grimmett continued about finally being reunited with his wife. “It was such a relief to have somebody that I could talk to, cause she is not only my wife, she’s my best friend, she’s my soul mate, it makes everything easier. I found that in this metal community of ours we have love and respect for each other and to be fair I’ve never met any assholes.”
The Metal Voice‘s interview with Steve and Millie Grimmett on January 29, 2017:
Steve & Millie Grimmett Live in Ecuador- Reaper Metal Stars relief songs to cover medical costs
No Description