SLAYER Frontman's Sister Battling Ovarian Cancer; Benefit Concert Announced

Cisco Araya, the older brother of SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, has sent the following message to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"Our family is putting on a little benefit concert for our oldest sister Anamaria, who has ovarian cancer. We want to raise money to help her pay for her treatments that have become increasingly more expensive and complicated. She has been fighting cancer for 13 years. The cancer has progressed but she is still fighting.

"This concert will involve most of our family musicians, visual artists and some of our musician friends. Our family is lucky to have so many talented, creative people in it. John Araya from THINE EYES BLEED, who recently has been a sit-in bass player with MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE, is going to play with me. We're going to do an acoustic set of several of our original songs. My children, Isaac and Emma Simons-Araya of THE POTENTIAL LUNATICS, are also playing. They play punk, alt rock. They have been playing out a lot lately and have created a buzz. They have played at Lady Fest L.A.; The Blue Cafe, Long Beach; MethodFest Film Festival, among others. They have upcoming shows at the OC Super Fair in July, The Smell in L.A. and The Anarchy Library. My band, WITHOUT THE BLONDE, will play. Sean Baumgartner, my nephew, will play some original songs of his. And THE FALLEN STARS, [who] have won several Orange County Music Awards for the last three years. And our friends, the band MISTER B., who is a Los Angeles Music Awards nominee this year.

"The visual artists are: Jeanette Araya, my older sister, who does oil paintings; my daughter Jasmine Simons-Araya, who does linoleum prints; Aubrey Simons-Araya, my daughter who does oil paintings. Both of my daughters have won awards for their work. Andrea Basualto, Ana's daughter, creates ink drawings. My wife, Cecille Simons-Araya, who is a photographer and took most of the pictures on the MySpace page, will exhibit/sell some of her work.

"We're asking for a $10 donation for the show, but anything would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has anything they would like to donate to add to the drawing that would be great. (We're still working on getting the donation button on the page, but John Araya has one for her, on his page, for the time being.) Any checks should be made out to Saint Luke's, the church that has agreed to be the fiduciary agent for us."

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/anamariabenefitconcert.

Anamaria Araya:

John Araya:

Cisco Araya: