Support Matt Zimmerman’s family in grief

Kris Doty’s partner, Enzo’s dad, a son, a brother, an uncle, and our dear friend—Matt Zimmerman came out of a very delicate surgery to remove a brain tumor on Tuesday.

You may know Matt from his bands—most recently, on bass with his rock band Kids (with Kris), and before that on bass and vocals with Ryan Lynch and Jeremiah Hayden in his noisy punk band Bombay Beach. He’s been a fixture in the Portland music scene for a long time, and spent a decade or so writing and collaborating on beats with Todd Fadel in the 8-bit, glitch dance band The Beauty. And if you've been at a show in Portland anytime in the past few decades, there's a decent chance he was there too.

You may also know Matt from his work with Multnomah County. He’s been an integral part of countless meetings to make a difference in the county, volunteered long days and nights setting up COVID and severe weather shelters for houseless neighbors, and helped keep the city well-read and connected through his recent work with the library.

Last Friday evening, Kris found Matt at their new home, unable to speak and showing signs of a seizure. The ambulance rushed him to Legacy Emanuel Hospital, where medical staff stabilized him and found a 5.5cm tumor—somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball. Doctors kept him in ICU over the weekend to reduce swelling and bleeding so that he could be in a decent condition for surgery. He was hardly responsive on Saturday and Sunday, saying only brief words, with no memory of what happened. On Monday, he appeared to make quite a bit of progress as the swelling reduced, but the tumor still needed to be removed. The surgeon worked a full eight hours on Tuesday to remove as much of the tumor as he could, while paying close attention to preserving Matt’s brain function. Matt has undergone a post-op CT scan and MRI, and biopsy results are expected in 10-14 days. While we don’t have any details yet, we are all anxiously awaiting a prognosis!

It is going to be a long recovery for Matt, and we are needing to raise funds to help with mortgage payments, food, bills, and other expenses as Kris and Matt will both likely be out of work for a while. Our sincere hope is that the upcoming hill to climb will be manageable, and that Matt can recover to his full wonderful self. Relieving some of these financial burdens is a big help in that. Thank you!