Carman, Christian Musician, Cancer Relapse Lands Him In The ER

Carman Licciardello, who was diagnosed with terminal, multiple myeloma cancer last February, was admitted to the ER on May 29 after experiencing a relapse on his way to the gym.  

He posted on his Facebook page saying, "Well you said you wanted updates, but not all of them are good ones. Today is a bad day. Woke up, got dressed and on my way to the gym then had to pull the car over due to extreme nausea. Have no idea why or where it came from. Had to turn around and go home then everything hit.  Over the next few hours my body vacated everything including most of my water. I couldn't even take a sip of water without getting violently ill. My temperature started to rise by the hour and my doctor knew that I was dehydrating pretty quickly. This is a war I'm fighting on a daily basis and I might be trying too hard. I don't know."

Carman asked for prayers and assured his fans that he would let them know when he had more information.  He referred to his fans as his "lifeline to the other side of this horrible journey."  Despite the difficulty Carman remained hopeful.  "I may feel like I'm losing control but God hasn't," he wrote.

On May 30, Carman posted an update on his Facebook page saying, "Wow, Yesterday ! What a day. I guess I forget sometimes that I still have Multiple Myeloma Cancer and nothing is the same. My red blood count was 9.6 on Feb 11th and dropping. 12.5 is normal. Meaning it has stopped dropping and holding fast. But I'm still very anemic and catch virus's and colds pretty quick. Somehow I caught a stomach virus and after 12 hours of the most brutal sickness ever, was extremely dehydrated. They had to be put me on an IV to replenish fluids for almost 4 hours. Nurses said that had I waited any longer it could have been fatal. So it was a close call."

The relapse caused him to take a closer look and what he needs to be doing for his health.  He said that he plans on not pushing himself so hard, re-tooling his diet and working on being satisfied with long term results.  Carman thanked his fans for their prayers and explained that, although is going to be a bumpy ride until he can walk the stage 100% again, he wants his fans to all be there when he does.

Carman has been involved in an album and video project with Kickstarter since April.  The goal of the project was to reach $200,000 in pledges, however, with 19 days to go, the project has already surpassed that goal by over $100,000.  All of the extra money will be put towards the stage production for his performances, according to a May 28 update to the Kickstarter website.  Carman wrote on the website dating that his Mutliple Myeloma deprives his bloodstream of vital oxygen which causes him to lose breath very quickly.  However, "I'm now feeling very responsible to get healthy so I can perform on tour and not pass out from lack of oxygen," he wrote.

In the May 28 Kickstarter update, Carman described a symbol of the journey that he has before him.  His trainer took him to a local park to see a flight of stairs on which professional UFC fighters train.  "So these stairs now represent writing 10 new songs, taking two hand fulls of daily med's, going into the studio for 2 months, cleaning my blood cells, building up my cardio, planning out a tour for the first time in 13 years, having enough stamina to complete one of these tasks, not failing everyone by relapsing and never allowing failure as an option," he wrote.  In addition, he added, "Those stairs represent my life. Everyday I stop by them and I try to run up but somewhere in the course that run, I can be found bent over with my hands on my knees gasping to inhale oxygen. Its such a lofty goal, the desired results have been set so high and just looking at that climb makes me want to quit."  He asked his fans for a quote to help inspire him and give him strength to make the climb.