Charles Michael “Chuck” Schuldiner

Charles Michael “Chuck” Schuldiner. Born May 13th, 1967, he grew up to be a caring, intelligent, inspirational individual. He went on to front the band Death, the band that started a wave of music that may seem silly and uninteresting to my followers, as well as more than half of Tumblr. Today, December 13th, in 2001, Chuck died after a heavy two years of battling brain cancer.

He first noticed his cancer in May of 1999 when he felt a knot in the back of his neck. Assuming it was a pinched nerve, he went to get it checked out, and found that he had developed pontine glioma, which invaded his brain stem. The tumor necrotized in October of the same year after undergoing radiation therapy, and he would subsequently receive surgery to remove the rest of it. The operation was successful, but demanded a hefty fine of $70,000, which his family was more than short of.

He continued to work with his two music projects, Death and Control Denied, for another two years, slowly raking up money, not only from himself and family, but various many metal artists who recognized how deeply troubled his financial and health situations were. May 2001, the cancer returned, leaving Chuck in absolute need of surgery yet again. It was at this point that Chuck was denied surgery due to lack of funds. He did, indeed, have health insurance, which could have definitely paid for the surgery, but was denied payment due to reasons of “the tumor existing before he had paid for insurance.” Instead, he once again required the aid of his fellow musicians to collect the money necessary to pay for his surgery, which he needed immediately. Many artists, including Kid Rock, Korn, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, auctioned off some of their own belongings to pay for him. Trivium even played a benefit concert for him.

He was given chemotherapy, yes, but like most chemotherapy drugs, the side-effects weakened him greatly. Chuck Schuldiner died on December 13th, today ten years ago, and was ultimately cremated.

Rest in Peace, Charles Michael “Chuck” Schuldiner