Ken Powell, a 56-year-old from NSW, is an obsessive Foo Fighters fan who followed the arena rock giants to every stop on their recent tour of Australia. Powell is also fighting a battle against incurable cancer.
As Yahoo News reports, He’s about to make a 12,000 kilometre trek across the ocean to tick off a major item on his bucket list – meet his favourite band. Thanks to the famous generosity of the ‘nicest man in rock’, Powell will soon meet the Foos in Los Angeles.
Powell was originally going to meet Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl during the Foos’ well-received 2015 Aussie tour, but a bout of food poisoning meant Grohl had to cancel all meet-and-greets.
Naturally, Powell, who attended all six of Foo Fighters’ Australian shows despite suffering several seizures and being unable to walk at the start of the tour, was disappointed about not getting to meet his hero.
“That was our quest – to try and meet the band,” Powell told Yahoo News. “We came close in Perth but it didn’t happen.” But chance soon intervened to help the Warilla resident complete his quest.
Powell’s friend, a Qantas flight attendant, just happened to be looking after the band on their return flight back to America and shared Powell’s story with them.
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Touched by the story, Grohl sent Powell a photo greeting and passed on a few gifts, including a signed autograph and VIP tickets to one of the band’s upcoming performances in Los Angeles.
Powell’s daughter, Tara, set up a Facebook page to raise enough funds to get her dad to the concert and make his lifelong dream come true. The ‘Ken the Foo Fighter – My Hero’ page gained almost 5,000 likes in a week, with messages of support flooding in from around the world.
Powell, who is battling stage four melanoma, was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 during a routine check-up, and soon afterwards discovered a spot on his lung.
After receiving experimental treatment for 12 months, he received the all-clear but the cancer tragically returned in 2009, and he was informed on his birthday that he had only three to six months left to live.
“It was terrible,” he said. “I tend to skip that birthday – I want to forget about it.” But as Powell explains, “There aren’t that many people who have lasted as long as I have.”
Medical staff at Westmead Hospital have nicknamed Powell ‘Miracle Man Ken’ after the Foos fan defied the odds stacked overwhelmingly against him with the help of trial medication, two brain surgeries, and radiation therapy.
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“I just tell them to keep giving me these trial drugs and keep me alive until there’s a cure – that’s what I keep living for.” Powell says setting goals, like meeting the Foo Fighters, is what drives him day-to-day.
Powell is currently aiming to raise $20K to get him to Los Angeles in time for the concert and his meet-and-greet with the band. Any funds leftover will go towards melanoma research.
“Any money surplus to the fundraiser’s objective will be donated to Melanoma Institute of Australia who have been a big support to me,” he said. “I thought it was time to give back.”
