On April 28 of this year, Mike Peters succumbed to a 30+ year stand against Leukemia. If you are familiar with 80’s post-punk music, you might recognize him as the lead singer of the Welsh folk-rock band, The Alarm.
I have been listening to The Alarm’s music since my formative teen years. In 1995, Mike was first diagnosed and successfully treated for lymphoma, only to be diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2005. Around this time, he co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation, whose mission is to promote the importance of bone marrow donation for the treatment of blood cancer and to encourage people to get on the donor match list.
After successful treatment, Mike tirelessly traveled the world to share his music and promote the Love Hope Strength Foundation. From the base camp of Everest to the top of Kilimanjaro, he recruited other artists and doctors to trek with him to celebrate life, bring care to remote areas, and recruit for the donor list. There is a beautiful and inspiring documentary about his life journey during this period called ‘The Man in The Camo Jacket.’
In 2018, during a tour stop in Boston, I was blessed with the opportunity to accompany Mike on stage to play a song he wrote about his battle with cancer. There are cautions about the disappointment that often comes from meeting your heroes, but after meeting Mike a few times since I performed with him, I cannot express enough how beautiful of a person he was. Kind, genuine, creative, humble, graceful, talented, brave, generous, optimistic, resilient, and always present are words that describe the impression he left on people. He never stopped wanting to share his music and the joy he had for living.
His leukemia returned in 2022, and in late 2024 he announced that a clinical trial did not achieve complete remission and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell therapy was not going to save him. Losing Mike leaves a massive void in the global fight against cancer. He modeled how to live a fulfilling life and to never waste an opportunity to have a positive influence. Being a distant passenger on his journey, I cannot describe enough how graceful and inspiring his outlook on life was.
Knowing his fate, he completed the second volume of his autobiography from a hospital bed and continued to record while in treatment. The song he released just prior to his passing was poignantly titled, 'Totally Free'. Mike gave so much of himself to others and he appreciated every day he was alive. He is a hero of mine and is my inspiration for riding this year’s Pan-Mass Challenge.
I am humbly asking for your support of my 14th PMC ride to support the life-saving work at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In addition, please consider adding yourself to the donor database to help fight blood cancer. It could save a life, and it only takes a cheek swab.
I hope everyone is healthy and well, and many thanks for your continued support!!
Love, Hope & Strength-
Matt
Links about Mike, my performance with him, his Foundation, and the donor database are also below.
Man in the Camo Jacket (2017) - IMDb
The LHS Mission – Love Hope Strength Foundation
Register as a Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donor | DKMS
On April 28 of this year, Mike Peters succumbed to a 30+ year stand against Leukemia. If you are familiar with 80’s post-punk music, you might recognize him as the lead singer of the Welsh folk-rock band, The Alarm.
I have been listening to The Alarm’s music since my formative teen years. In 1995, Mike was first diagnosed and successfully treated for lymphoma, only to be diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2005. Around this time, he co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation, whose mission is to promote the importance of bone marrow donation for the treatment of blood cancer and to encourage people to get on the donor match list.
After successful treatment, Mike tirelessly traveled the world to share his music and promote the Love Hope Strength Foundation. From the base camp of Everest to the top of Kilimanjaro, he recruited other artists and doctors to trek with him to celebrate life, bring care to remote areas, and recruit for the donor list. There is a beautiful and inspiring documentary about his life journey during this period called ‘The Man in The Camo Jacket.’
In 2018, during a tour stop in Boston, I was blessed with the opportunity to accompany Mike on stage to play a song he wrote about his battle with cancer. There are cautions about the disappointment that often comes from meeting your heroes, but after meeting Mike a few times since I performed with him, I cannot express enough how beautiful of a person he was. Kind, genuine, creative, humble, graceful, talented, brave, generous, optimistic, resilient, and always present are words that describe the impression he left on people. He never stopped wanting to share his music and the joy he had for living.
His leukemia returned in 2022, and in late 2024 he announced that a clinical trial did not achieve complete remission and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell therapy was not going to save him. Losing Mike leaves a massive void in the global fight against cancer. He modeled how to live a fulfilling life and to never waste an opportunity to have a positive influence. Being a distant passenger on his journey, I cannot describe enough how graceful and inspiring his outlook on life was.
Knowing his fate, he completed the second volume of his autobiography from a hospital bed and continued to record while in treatment. The song he released just prior to his passing was poignantly titled, 'Totally Free'. Mike gave so much of himself to others and he appreciated every day he was alive. He is a hero of mine and is my inspiration for riding this year’s Pan-Mass Challenge.
I am humbly asking for your support of my 14th PMC ride to support the life-saving work at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In addition, please consider adding yourself to the donor database to help fight blood cancer. It could save a life, and it only takes a cheek swab.
I hope everyone is healthy and well, and many thanks for your continued support!!
Love, Hope & Strength-
Matt
Links about Mike, my performance with him, his Foundation, and the donor database are also below.
Man in the Camo Jacket (2017) - IMDb
The LHS Mission – Love Hope Strength Foundation
Register as a Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donor | DKMS
I have chosen to keep all of my donors' information confidential; therefore it is not displayed on my PMC public donor list.
