Husband-and-wife musicians Charles and Lauren Eddy were looking forward to starting a new chapter in their lives as a rock duo.<\/p>\n
After doing time in Houston rock bands El Lago and Young Mammals, the couple began composing music as goth rock\/darkwave duo Raudiver, naming the band after Latvian writer\/parapsychologist\/electronic voice phenomena investigator Konstant\u012bns Raudive. Last September, they released their debut album Leave Before Dark, which got some critical love from the local press, including ranking No. 6 on the Houston Chronicle\u2019s \u201c10 Best Albums from Local Houston Artists of 2024<\/a>\u201d list.) <\/p>\n The Eddys were ready to start off the new year by performing live shows around Texas. But, in February, it was announced<\/a> on their Instagram page that shows would be canceled due to a medical emergency. <\/p>\n \u201c[Charles] always would get migraines,\u201d says vocalist\/keyboardist Lauren, 38, during a Zoom call with her guitarist husband. \u201cHe would have, like, nausea. He’d have to sleep it off. He wouldn’t want to eat. And it was just becoming more frequent, more severe.\u201d<\/p>\n On the morning of February 5, Charles had a seizure that prompted Lauren to call 911. \u201cIt was a really scary experience,\u201d she remembers. \u201cWe went to the hospital, the emergency room, and they did the initial CAT scan and found a mass. And the bad news just kept going from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Scans revealed Charles had a brain tumor two inches in size \u2014 a malignant, aggressive, grade 4 glioblastoma. The survival rate for this cancer is very low; the median survival time is 12-15 months with treatment, and the five-year survival rate is less than 5 percent. <\/p>\n After spending a week in ICU, he was transferred to MD Anderson Cancer Center for \u201cawake surgery.\u201d \u201cThey woke him up in the middle of it and had him do some exercises to make sure that they weren’t bagging something important,\u201d says Lauren.<\/p>\n For Charles, it was a three-hour process of answering simple questions. \u201cThey have you cut open and it didn’t hurt or anything \u2014 just, every once in a while, some weird pressure,\u201d says Charles, 34. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd it’s like somebody you’ve already talked to a few times \u2013 the speech pathologist. They have an iPad over here that you can see, and they’ll say, \u2018What animal is this?\u2019 And it’ll be a dog or a cat or whatever, and it’s a sketch of the animal. And then they’ll say, \u2018Okay, what kind of tree is this? What kind of flower is this? What kind of bird is this?\u2019 The whole time, they’re feeding you one ice cube at a time, because you can\u2019t move and your mouth gets dry.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Lauren, doctors took most of the tumor out. Charles is currently going through chemotherapy and radiation therapy to get rid of the rest, which is still in a very sensitive part of his brain. Along with consuming several meds (which he carries in a fanny pack wrapped around his chest) on the daily, Charles is doing physical and occupational therapy just to get back to the simple things, like writing a song. <\/p>\n \u201cI do have a problem with reading now,\u201d he says. \u201cI have to exercise that muscle. ! get a stutter and, even in my writing, I’ll have sentences where I’m like, \u2018Oh, God, what is that letter?\u2019 And it just gets stuck sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully, they have friends and family ready to help them. The former Galveston residents have been living at the home of Jacob Villarreal, Lauren\u2019s brother, while he\u2019s out of town. Villarreal also launched a GoFundMe page<\/a> for medical costs, recovery expenses, and financial backup. With a $60,000 goal, as of this writing, the campaign has raised over $55,000. <\/p>\n People in Houston\u2019s music community have also stepped up. Earlier this year, Cactus Music held a Record Store Day raffle that raised $1,500 for the Eddys. Last month, Axelrad held a \u201cFor the Love of Charlie\u201d benefit concert where limited-edition, seven-inch remixes of Raudiver songs were sold with other merch. And there\u2019s another benefit show<\/a> happening August 30 at Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe in Galveston. Says Charles, \u201cI don’t know what we would have done without all the support.\u201d<\/p>\n At the moment, the Eddys don\u2019t see live performances happening in the foreseeable future. \u201cI’m worried about just taking him to a restaurant,\u201d says Lauren. \u201cHe had a seizure at dinner at a restaurant and it was a 911 call and we shut down the whole restaurant. My anxiety is always so high with him.\u201d<\/p>\n But the music of Raudiver is still available at your nearest record store or streaming platform. Even though they haven\u2019t had a smooth, painless 2025 so far (and, honestly, who has?), they\u2019re still proud of the work they made as a rock-and-roll couple.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that it\u2019s something that maybe gives other people inspiration to do that thing that they’re curious about trying creatively or taking a step in their life personally,\u201d says Lauren. \u201cMaybe take a risk that they hesitate to take and maybe give a little inspiration to do that, because you never know what’s going to happen next.\u201d<\/p>\n