Camera Obscura have announced that keyboard player Carey Lander will take time away from the band in order to continue her fight against osteosarcoma, a bone cancer she has suffered with since 2011.
As a result, the band will take time off from touring, and decided to “shelve all work commitments for the time being”. They have cancelled their planned shows in California and Mexico.
Vocalist TracyAnne Campbell announced the decision via the band’s Facebook page, saying:
“We’re really sad to disappoint our fans, but I’m sure everyone will understand that Carey’s health needs to come first at this time. We hope we can come back one day and play for you.”
Camera Obscura, with keyboard player Carey Lander (right):
PressLander has created a JustGiving page to help others suffering from similar conditions, on which she goes into more detail on her illness:
“In 2011 I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in my leg. It’s an aggressive form of bone cancer that’s treated with a very harsh regime of chemotherapy and surgery or possible amputation of the affected limb. Particularly horribly, it’s a cancer that most commonly occurs in children and because of its rarity, receives scarce attention or funding and there has been very little in the way of new treatments developed in the last 30 years.”
“It’s probably too late to help me, but it would be great if we could find something in the future that means children don’t have to undergo such awful treatment and have a better chance of survival.”
“I’ve been quite fortunate in that I have been able to have periods of living something of a normal life in the last 4 years and to continue playing with Camera Obscura. Being able to record the album we had started working on before my diagnosis, and to travel and play shows again has been amazing, and I’m very grateful to everyone that’s bought out records, come to our concerts or supported us in some way.”
“Sadly, my illness is here tripping me up again and I feel like it’s time to tell people a bit more about it and see if I can raise a bit of cash to help others in a similar situation.”
You can visit Lander’s JustGiving page here. At the time of writing, she has raised over £10,000.