Rush drummer Neil Peart died from brain cancer a few days ago, and a Canadian doctor who treats patients like Peart named Dr. Peter Dirks discussed how someone like Peart fight their disease in a CBC interview. Neil Peart’s photo with an A-list actress was just revealed.
“It’s embedded in the brain and it infiltrates into the brain in places where you just can’t remove it.”
“We have the challenge that parts of your brain are essential for function, even the essence of who we are and how we communicate and how we laugh at jokes. We don’t want to remove or harm those areas that are essential for us to function and make us the people who we are.”
“The tumours still have a habit of coming back, even if you thought you got it all, because there’s still a few cells left that have been crawling deeper into the brain that have the capacity to multiply and cause the tumours to regrow,” Dirks says.
Dr. Dirks did say a chemotherapy drug called temozolomide was invented in the last decade, and it can penetrate the blood-brain barrier. For some it can prolong survival for a bit longer, though it is not a miracle drug.
“But many, many patients don’t respond at all. It’s not like there’s really a therapy that we can tell people, ‘Well, this at least will definitely slow it down or put you into remission.”‘
JumporJerk wrote on Reddit about seeing Peart’s final show in 2015, “I was there. Their very last show at The Forum in Inglewood CA, August 1, 2015. 8th row center. The first time I’d ever seen them not on a lawn a quarter of a mile from the stage. They were there, right in front of me. I was there.
That was it. Their final show. Neil was done. Retired. Something he’d been waiting for, for a long time. No little surprise one-off reunion jam at some tiny club in Toronto. No new album or quicke EP. Fucking Christ forbid, no bankroll replenishment reunion tour. It was their last show, and I was there.
It was perfect. The most brilliant and gorgeous bookend to the first time I saw them, my heart spilling over with joy, both times, the entire time, from house lights off, to house lights on. I was fucking there.
Being blessed enough to have earned a ticket that was worth close to $1,000, I was surrounded by absolute fucking titans of the rock music world. To my left was Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, air drumming to 2112. To my right was Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters, headbanging to Working Man. Two rows behind me was Danny Carey from Tool. Danny mother fucking Carey from TOOL. He was standing there the with an ear to ear grin the entire show. He was there. I was there.” Rush singer Geddy Lee was caught speaking to a young female singer a few days ago.
