Help Mike Volpe Rebuild His Home and Beat Cancer

My good friend for 25 years, Mike Volpe, lost his home of 30 years in a 24 unit condo fire last night, Feb 10, 2021, in Boxborough, MA. The building has been declared a total loss and Mike hasn't even seen his possessions, if there are any. Like many of the other victims, he is staying in a local hotel furnished by the Red Cross. Thankfully, no lives were lost. The fire was uncontrollable since the town of Boxborough inexplicably has no fire hydrants and raged on from 5pm till 11:30pm as fire fighters literally pumped water into portable containers from a nearby pond, then ferried it over to the fire. You can see footage and photos here:

Boston Globe Article
Wicked Local Article 
WHDH Local News Report
Brad Tatum WBZ TV 
Boxborough Police 

Photo: Boxborough Police Department

Photo: Screenshot, Brad Tatum, WBZ-TV

Mike makes a very modest living managing one of my favorite shops in Harvard Square, Audio Lab in "The Garage" building at 36 JFK St, Cambridge. He's popular in the square, and hundreds of customers are "friends of Audio Lab", often chatting with Mike in one of the two very worn chairs. Audio Lab is has been in the square since 1965 and is one of Harvard Square's last remaining independent shops. If you can, stop in to wish him well, and maybe buy a stereo or speakers! To say the least business has been tough, brutal actually, due to COVID and the general decline of Hi-Fi audio shops in general. Although Mike had a small condo to his name and not much in it, (Believe me, I've been there many times!) his prized possessions of 4000 record LP's, 2000 CD's, and 1000 cassettes are likely gone, which were priceless.

In addition, Mike has been battling Mantle-cell Lymphoma for 7 years. This is a photo from a few years back, when I was asking my facebook friends to help then.

Photo: Tatsu Ikeda, Apr 14, 2014

Recently, Mike almost lost his life in a 3 month stay in Beth Israel Hospital. The lymphoma came back, which lead to a vicious infection, knocked out his kidneys and then various immune-related blood cells, then a massively enlarged spleen. He gained 50 pounds in a week and couldn't keep down food. He could not get out of bed, could not go to the bathroom. Mike even started offering me his records and stereos, he really thought he was going out.

Photo: Tatsu Ikeda, Oct 13, 2020

Mike is pretty private and he's going to hate me for sharing some of these photos, but you need to know, it was critical. I was determined that he would live and visited him many times throughout his stays, shuttling him to and fro home and the hospital. Somehow by miracle, he made it. I took him home on November 19th, 2020, but he had several more lengthy stays and complications.

Photo: Tatsu Ikeda, Nov 19, 2020

Although Mike will have a roof over his head for the time being, out of pocket expenses and hospital co-pays plus prescriptions are going to be tough since Audio Lab has mostly been closed since he was in the hospital for so long. There's a lot of money going out, but little coming in!

So please donate what ever you can. My dream is to take him to other doctors to work on his diet, nutrition, and other holistic ways to treat his cancer. We might even road trip somewhere to do this! If you do, I'll certainly update you on our adventures!

Thank you so much for reading and what ever donation you are thinking, whether it's here, visiting at Audio Lab, or saying hello online. You can reach him on Facebook where he mostly posts Bob Dylan songs. I believe the positive energy and prayers saved his life last fall, and I am once calling for blessings! Thank you again!

Yours Truly,
Tatsu Ikeda

Photo: Tatsu Ikeda