Breaking News: Metallica kills Cancer

Dear Gentlemen,

It’s hard for me to put into words the impact your music has had on me. It never ceases to amaze me how Metallica has broken the bonds of time, has crossed all ages, and cemented its legacy through iconic melodies.

As I look back through the years, I can pin point exact memories where Metallica was a driving force in the formation of my being. From jumping from couch to couch with my younger brother while we blasted “Whiskey in a jar” attempting to recreate the music video (much to our parents’ chagrin as I’m sure you can imagine) to spending endless hours into the night trying to perfect “Fade to Black,” your music has brought me to this very moment. “Live Shit Binge & Purge” became the screen saver on all my tv’s, playing over and over. And when the video tapes got worn down to the point where all that played was a washy faded version of the original, I got ahold of the CD set version, only to have San Diego on repeat for me to walk in on the “Orion” solo after school so that I could practice the song on both bass and guitar. In the mornings, it was “Seek & Destroy” that would get me through my 2 hour bus ride to school, and on the way back, “The Four Horsemen” would wrap an otherwise impossibly boring 2 hour bus ride back home with a nice little bow. My older brother was at that very concert in Mexico, and it used to boil my blood to think that one of those euphoric screams among the crowd was his and not mine. So, I did as any jealous kid would and put the snake pit pass that came in the box set, on the cover of my binder and would walk around telling everyone I was there!

It would be years before I’d get the chance to see Metallica in concert because I grew up in Mexico, and the times you played there, I was too young to go. But my time would come summer of 2007 in Vienna. After all these years of imagining, I was honored to watch you guys demolish the stage in one of the most epic performances I had ever witnessed, truly worthy of crossing an ocean for. A year later, Death Magnetic dropped, and my brother surprised me with tickets in Chicago, early ’09. I was so blown away by the DM show that I ended up taking ten million buses and trains to see you guy rock the house at Madison Square Garden at the end of the year. The last time I got to witness the Met Madmen, was at Big Four in Indio, CA, where I met up with 3 of my friends from elementary school who flew up from Mexico just to live the epic concert. The photo below was posted by Megadeath on their Big Four album. What a concert!

Keeping that in mind, you can rest assured that for months, I’ve had my tickets to see you guys play in Pasadena this weekend. A month ago, my excitement was shattered when I was diagnosed with testicular cancer out of nowhere. From one day to the next, I went from being a very hard working, very healthy, very active young man, to suddenly having a life threatening disease. They carted me into emergency surgery and made away with a part of me. I’ve been in recovery since, and though the longterm forecast is promising, my immediate future will be quite challenging. I will have to endure chemotherapy for two straight months, five days a week, some 3 hours a day. And because I have to move to Seattle for treatment, I almost missed the concert this weekend that has been keeping me going for the past four weeks. Luckily, I was able to move things around so I could stay and head to the concert with one of my oldest childhood friends, whom I introduced Metallica to when he was around 5 or 6 and has loved you just as much ever since.

In any case, this is all a very long winded letter to ask for a favor. I know it’s far too short notice, and there’s probably very little you can do, but is there any way I could meet you guys? I’m a 29 year old recently one balled man, and yet, whenever I think of Metallica, I’m able to relive my whole life in a second and forget about my current pain. If there’s nothing you guys can do, I completely understand, there would need to be a whole lot more Metallicas to fulfill every cancer having dude’s dreams, but knowing I have written this and that there might be a slight chance you will have read it is enough.

Metallica has helped me live life. Nothing Else Matters.

Should you feel so inclined, drop me a line.

alexeiaacosta@gmail.com

Yours truly,

Alexei Acosta.