Local bands provided the benefit of a lifetime for one area resident on Jan. 31 at Memorial Hall.

The benefit was held to help raise money to pay hospital bills for Chad Terry, 26, who suffers from severe kidney problems. He has experienced these problems since childhood, but said his body had grown accustomed to the pain.

“I slowly grew an immunity to it,” he said. “My body got used to it.”

In May 2002, a week and a half after his wedding to wife Devony, Terry discovered why he was having such problems.

“In my wedding pictures, I looked like a zombie,” he said.

Terry went to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in April, but said he was turned away. He said St. John’s would not run blood tests because they thought he was a drug addict.

So he tried Freeman Health System in May where doctors diagnosed his problem. Normal kidneys should be 10-11 centimeters in diameter. Terry’s had shrunk to 6.5 and 8 centimeters. The hospital also ran drug tests, and Terry tested clean for each one.

Terry undergoes kidney dialysis four times a week for three hours at a time. He also said he is “on a pharmacy of drugs.”

He is currently going through the long process of receiving a kidney transplant at the University of Kansas.

Tuesday he had a meeting with the transplant team from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. He is now on a donor list.

Terry said about a dozen people have volunteered as live donors, but the process of finding a match is also a long one.

“Luckily, with my blood type, I’m a universal donor,” he said. “It makes getting a kidney easier.”

Terry said with his health problems and hospital bills, he has been on a downhill slide, but thinks he is coming uphill now.

“I had to go all the way downhill before I could start climbing back up,” he said.

Terry said he owes the most thanks to his wife.

“She keeps me alive,” he said. “She’s my angel.”

Local bands and residents decided they also wanted to help Terry by holding the benefit concert. For a charge of $5 at the door, attendees supported Terry and got the opportunity to see an evening full of rock music.

The concert began at 4 p.m. and continued until midnight with a final performance by Terry’s own band, Frail. Other bands playing included One Track Mind, Brutally Frank, Aural Fidelity, Push Factor, V.D., The Lonely, Peace Church and Dark as Day.

Because of his health problems, Terry said he nearly had to quit his band. His blood pressure rose too much to continue playing the band’s heavy music, so Terry offered his resignation.

“My band wouldn’t let me leave,” he said. “They stood by me. We just made our music more mellow. We’re a family. We stick together.”

After a long hiatus, Terry said he loved returning to the stage during the benefit.

“Getting back on stage changed my outlook,” he said. “That’s where I belong.”

Concert sponsors Punkteur Tattoo & Piercing, Electric Art Tattoo, ROCK 105.3 FM, Smoke-N-Fumes, Massey Music, Big Don’s, St. Paul’s Methodist Church and Crossroads Church of Wicca also provided support.

But the benefit did not occur without any hitches. Organizers had problems with affording insurance, finding an insurance agent and paying the Joplin Police Department.

“Memorial Hall pretty much makes it impossible to play there,” Terry said.

He said Memorial Hall required $1 million, 24-hour coverage, plus a $500 deposit for each band that plays. Two police officers also had to be on duty each hour at $25 each, at a total of $400 for the day.

The sponsors, especially Punkteur, provided money to afford the insurance. Terry said many people pitched in.

He said it was also difficult to find an insurance agent.

“They were afraid of bad organization because it was a local show,” he said.

But Chalmers Insurance Agency Inc. of Neosho finally agreed to provide insurance for $1,500.

Despite all the difficulties, Terry said the most important outcome was that the local bands played at Memorial Hall.

“Every band in Joplin, one of their dreams is to play Memorial Hall,” he said. “They were fighting. They deserved that more than I deserved anything.”

Sophie Chartier, junior kinesiology major, said she liked Push Factor and thought The Lonely was funny, but didn’t understand the lyrics.

“Usually I listen to ’70s music like The Doors and Janis Joplin and rock music in general,” she said. “However, I didn’t like very much of the hard rock there.”

She also thought Memorial Hall was too big of a venue for a local show.

Chartier did, however, think the benefit was a nice gesture to help Terry.

After paying all the bills, the concert raised between $2,000 and $2,500 for Terry.

“I still have my days where I don’t want to do anything, but I’m on the uphill,” Terry said. “They couldn’t raise enough money compared to what it did for my outlook, my spirits. If everybody got together and did this more, the world would be a more beautiful place.”