Pitt Meadows is giving Carling Muir some love.
On Feb. 11, the Headpins, who opened for virtually every big act to come to B.C. in the 1980s, will headline a fundraiser at Pitt Meadows Heritage Hall.
Rod Perkins put the event together for Muir, who has not been able to continue in her job as a school district outreach worker after brain tumour surgery.
She is now having chemotherapy.
“I’m hoping to raise her at least $7,000,” said Perkins. “She hasn’t been able to work.
“I had to convince Carling to do this. She’s proud, but she’s at the point where she needs the help.”
He has known Muir since she was a child. Her father Grant Muir was the best man at Perkins’ wedding.
“We want to bring all the people who love her together in one room,” Perkins said.
Muir is just the 20th person in Canada to receive an innovative, high-tech treatment for brain cancer. It is a robotic laser that uses heat to destroy cancer cells, while the surgeon watches his progress on a monitor.
Muir, 6’1’’, was a basketball star at Thomas Haney secondary, and was the heart and soul of the Langara College Falcons women’s basketball team. She won scoring titles despite undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
In 2006, she was on the court when she suffered a seizure, and was diagnosed with an egg-sized tumour on the left side of her brain.
She had emergency surgery to remove the first tumour a decade ago, but she has been re-diagnosed three times over the past years. She estimates she has spent a combined three years taking chemotherapy treatment over that 10-year span.
Perkins is billing the night “A Celebration of Courage.”
“I’ve been watching her go through this for 10 years, and she’s an inspiration,” he said. “It’s never ‘poor me.’ She’s always so positive.”
Everyone is waiting to see how her tumour reacts to the treatment in using the new Neuroblate technology that came to Vancouver General Hospital in 2015.
Muir has since been receiving chemotherapy, getting 21 days of treatment followed by a week off.
“The first week and a half is hard on my stomach,” she said.
After that, she suffers from fatigue in the afternoons.
There is no end date. She will maintain the chemotherapy treatment until it is no longer having an effect.
She still loves basketball, and hopes to be able to pick it up again someday.
“I go to my alumni game once a year, and I love it and miss it,” she said.
In the more immediate future, there’s the concert.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s great for them to do this,” she said. “It’s awesome having that support around me.”
• Perkins said tickets for dinner and the concert are virtually sold out, but he still has tickets to the concert alone. They are available for $30 by calling him at 604-897-2509.