Jill Cagney to Host CD Release Benefit for Michael Wielgus, Oct. 20 at the Crossroads

Cranford singer/songwriter Jill Cagney is hosting a CD release on Saturday, October 20 from 6pm to 8pm at the Crossroads in Garwood to benefit Michael Wielgus, a Cranford teen and friend of the Cagney family who is fighting brain cancer for the third time in his young life.

Michael was on vacation in Busch Gardens, Va., when he experienced a severe headache following a roller coaster ride. When the headache continued hours later, they took him to the emergency room, thinking it was a concussion from the ride. Scans of Michael's brain, however, revealed something more serious. A mass that was later determined to be cancer. He underwent surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital and instead of starting eighth grade, he started chemo.

Since being diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Wielgus and a close-knit group of friends have participated in the American Cancer Society's annual Relay For Life fundraising event and created a "Flush Away Cancer" campaign where they leave purple toilets on residents' lawns, offering to remove them for a donation. Read more about that, here.

Saturday will be Wielgus's 16th birthday. The band Hudson K will be traveling from Knoxville Tennessee to perform at the benefit also. All proceeds from the sale of the CD and merchandise will be donated directly to the Wielgus family.