14 DAY TRIAL // Actress Karen Black, who has become a horror icon thanks to her roles in “Five Easy Pieces,” “Easy Rider,” “Airport 1975” and “House of 1000 Corpses,” is battling ampullary cancer. She and her husband Stephen Eckelberry are in no situation to pay for the treatment, so they’re turning to fans for help.
In a campaign started online at GoFundMe, Eckelberry explains that Karen has been fighting the disease for almost 2 years. She is now bed-ridden and reconciled to the idea that she doesn’t have long to live.
However, there still is hope in a new experimental treatment available in Europe, for which they no longer have resources.
“BUT THERE IS HOPE. Karen’s family physician of many years called us two weeks ago and told us of success she has had with several of her patients doing a treatment in Europe as part of a clinical study there,” Stephen writes.
“I cannot go into more details now, but I promise I will in the future as we get involved. I will say that this is a medically supervised program and it targets Karen’s kind of cancer,” he says.
“In fact, we personally know two of the patients that have had remarkable recoveries from cancer there. So we know it works, and right now it is her best and only shot,” Stephen adds.
The cost of the treatment is $22,000 (€17,092), which, at the time of writing, has been surpassed. This money covers a 2-month stay in Europe, the treatment, lodgings and expenses.
In an update to the original post asking for donations, Stephen thanks the fans and the celebrity friends who have helped cross the threshold by donating and thus, offer Karen the opportunity to hope again.
He also says that the extra money will go towards arranging that he accompanies her to Europe for the duration of the treatment, which he didn’t even dream could happen.