11-02-2025
Family of New York Dolls' David Johansen raising funds for stage 4 cancer care
Family of New York Dolls' David Johansen raising funds for stage 4 cancer care
Punk legend David Johansen's family is raising funds to pay for his stage 4 cancer treatment.
The actor and former New York Dolls frontman has been living with cancer for nearly a decade and a brain tumor for five years, according to a Sweet Relief fundraiser. In a statement to Rolling Stone on Monday, Johansen, 75, said a recent fall down the stairs, in which he broke his back in two different places, has made matters worse.
"We've been living with my illness for a long time, still having fun, seeing friends and family, carrying on, but this tumble the day after Thanksgiving really brought us to a whole new level of debilitation," he told the outlet. "This is the worst pain I've ever experienced in my entire life. I've never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency. Thank you."
USA TODAY has reached out to Johansen's family for comment.
According to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund page, the family is especially private, "but we feel compelled to share this now, due to the increasingly severe financial burden our family is facing," Johansen's daughter, Leah Hennessey, wrote.
The "Oz" actor has been "bedridden and incapacitated" since the fall, she added, and requires around-the-clock care from his wife, Mara Hennessey.
"To continue his treatment and give him the best chance of recovery, David and Mara will need full time assistance," Leah Hennessey continued. "As hilarious and wise as David continues to be, he is physically debilitated and his care exceeds what we are capable of providing without specialized professional help."
Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi's 2022 documentary "Personality Crisis: One Night Only" tells the story of the New York Dolls lead singer and songwriter, who went on to take on the alter ego Buster Poindexter and form the David Johansen band and The Harry Smiths.
