Dave Desmelik With An Army Of Love at The Grey Eagle
‘Army of Love’ (Childhood Battles) is an album of 11 songs written and recorded by Dave Desmelik. The songs are sung by an all-star cast of Western NC musicians including Amanda Anne Platt (Honeycutters), Michael Ashworth and Mike Guggino (Steep Canyon Rangers), Andrew Scotchie, Jay Brown and Aditi Sethi-Brown, Alexa Rose, Jimmy Davidson and Rob Brown (The Worthless Son-in-Laws), Melissa Hyman and Ryan Furstenberg (The Moon and You), Aaron Woody Wood, Laura Blackley, Jane Kramer, and Shannon Whitworth. Additional musicians are Andy Gibbon, Josh Gibbs, and Derrick Gardner.
Dave Desmelik is a journeyman songwriter and musician. His wife is Clare and their two sons are Holmes and Vincent. Dave and Clare’s oldest son, Holmes has an inoperable brain tumor. He was diagnosed in June of 2014 at age five. These songs were written during the summer of 2017 after watching their child go through intensive chemotherapy, surgeries, countless doctor appointments, and too much time for any kid to spend in hospitals. Along the way, Clare and Dave realized that although there is no cure for brain cancer, there is hope. Hope is powerful. This collection of songs revolves around pediatric illness and covers a wide range of emotions from anger and confusion to love and compassion.
Dave knew right away that although he wrote these songs, he was not the one to sing them. He wanted to involve more people, so he turned to some of his fellow musicians and friends in the Western North Carolina region for this project. Unbeknownst to them, the Desmeliks started calling them ‘Army of Love’. The truth is that the ‘Army of Love’ includes anyone who supports and cares for kids dealing with life-threatening battles.
The goal with this album is to raise awareness of pediatric illness. Any and all funds raised by this project will be donated to charities that have helped so many families on this journey. These are the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (in which funds will be delineated to brain tumor research), Make-A-Wish Central & Western NC, and Angel Flight Soars.
Music unifies. We are all connected. Love heals.
Some things you may not know…
– More than 28,000 children in the United States are living with the diagnosis of a brain tumor, and close to 13 more cases are identified each day.
– In the United States, the tax payer funded National Cancer Institute provides only 4% of its annual budget to childhood cancer.
– Make A Wish grants a wish, on average, every 35 minutes to a child with a life-threatening medical condition.
– A combined 89% of doctors, nurses, and health professionals surveyed say they believe a wish experience can influence wish kids’ physical health.
– In 2017, total missions coordinated by Angel Flight were 3,431. That is 9 missions a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Why is your donation so important?…
– Because funding for research is essential in saving childrens’ lives.
– Because your gift gives children renewed strength to fight their illnesses, brings families closer together, and unites communities.
– Because nonprofit organizations are dependent on community support.
– Because your generosity creates a bond, helping to bolster relationships through a shared goal, and may inspire others.
– Because every donation counts, whether $1,000, $100, $10, or $1, every donation matters and makes a difference.
Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (curethekids.org) – The PBTF is the world’s leading nonprofit dedicated to children and teens with brain tumors. Headquartered in Asheville, NC, with chapters and programs available across the country, the PBTF’s mission is to care for families along their journey, cure all childhood brain tumors, and help survivors and families thrive.
Make-A-Wish Central & Western NC (nc.wish.org) – Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. The wish experience can be a game changer for a child; it’s more than a nice thing, it’s necessary! This one belief guides Make-A-Wish in everything they do.
Angel Flight Soars (angelflightsoars.org) – Angel Flight Soars is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to the coordination of free air transportation for patients in need of distant, specialized medical treatment. Angel Flight utilizes the contribution from their incredible volunteer pilots – who selflessly donate their time, aircraft and fuel to fly patients to the medical care they require and deserve. The core vision behind Angel Flight is that the obstacle of transportation should never stand in the way of people receiving the proper medical care.
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