A fundraiser has been created in a bid to help support former Pendulum member Ben Verse, following a cancer diagnosis.
The drum n bass MC, whose real name is Benjamin Mount, was diagnosed with acute monoblastic leukaemia four months ago and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. He has also faced a series of other health issues.
In light of the news, his brother Jeremy has launched a new page on GoFundMe to raise £20,000 that will go towards the financial costs facing Benjamin. This includes various medical bills, everyday finances, childcare, mobility support and nursing care.
On the GoFundMe page, Jeremy explains how his brother and family members learned about the diagnosis, as well as the hardships that the MC has faced since. In the page description, he shares that Benjamin was first hospitalised last August and suspected to have tuberculosis. This was later discovered to be a rapidly-growing, antibiotic evasive/resistant superbug which created an abscess in his lung.
He was admitted to hospital again and placed in an induced coma for six weeks, Jeremy added, and it was doubtful at times whether or not he would survive. We were told on a couple of occasions that it was doubtful he would survive. Each day brought a new calamity/issue: sepsis, bleeding, haematoma, a heart attack, another procedure, another tube, his brother wrote.
The fundraiser page also shared that Benjamin was diagnosed with acute leukaemia just three weeks after he left the ICU unit, which meant he had an immediate need for chemotherapy in various forms .
Finally, after over four months in hospital, it looks like Ben will soon be able to return home. However, he has lost half his body weight… still has the abscess with the use of only one lung, can’t yet walk and is currently on his second round of chemotherapy, Jeremy shared in the description.
The road to rehabilitation will be a long one and Ben will need a lot of care and support to bring him back to the person we all know and love, he concluded, mentioning how the artist has two daughters, aged two years and 10 months.
We have set up this fund to help Ben s family with the costs of a range of everyday and extraordinary financial costs. Please consider giving what you can ¦ Ben doesn t want it to be a charity, but right now we need to reach out to everyone that knows him and wants to help at this extremely difficult and stressful time.
You can find out more about the fundraiser and donate to Benjamin s page here. At the time of writing, the GoFundMe page has already surpassed the initial £20,000 target, and is sitting at £58,900.
In the initial post, Jeremy also shared that his brother has been working on some new material since coming out of the coma. This is still in its early stages, according to the update, but Benjamin is looking to release it at a later date.
The artist s brother also went on to share another update on the page, thanking people for their generosity and donations. The response from you all has been incredible, thanks so much to everyone across the world that has reached out. It means so much all of us, he shared, also attaching a new video from Benjamin. You can check that out above.
Last year, Pendulum’s set was named one of NME s Most Magical Moments of Reading & Leeds 2024. Shortly before their appearance at the iconic dual-festival, frontman Rob Swire spoke to NME about their recent comeback single ˜Napalm , which featured Joey Valance and Brae.
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