Singer-songwriter Quinn Christopherson was unable to perform for most of 2023 because of a lump in his throat.
“It was big,” he said. “Like, I could feel it.”
A doctor at Alaska Native Medical Center initially told him “it was nothing,” but chose to perform a biopsy on it anyway. Christopherson went under anesthesia and was unable to speak due to the procedure being performed on his throat.
“The doctor just comes up to my bed. He goes, ‘Hey, that was malignant. So just so you know, it’s cancer.’ And I can’t respond,” Christopherson said. “I’m just like, kind of looking at him, and I gave him a thumbs up like, ‘Thanks, thanks for that. Thanks for not even waiting for my wife to come into the room.’”
He said he was “so depressed and sad;” it wasn’t until three weeks later when Christopherson received a call from the doctor saying that it was not actually cancer.
“That was really good news,” he said. “But the whole thing is that this thing was growing. And so regardless if it was cancer or not, it needs to go.”
In preparation for his surgery to remove the growth, he worked with a speech pathologist who told Christopherson he was “not going to sing again” or “talk normally ever again.” He was also meeting regularly with a speech language guide for swallow therapy.
The initial surgery planned would require reconstruction surgery in his throat. ANMC does not perform head and neck surgeries, so Christopherson and his wife flew to Washington. He was supposed to be under for two days, but the procedure he ended up receiving was much less invasive.
“The information that the doctor gave them was so bad, really bad. Seriously, he has really caused me a lot of heartache,” Christopherson said. “It was so different that when I was under, they had to call Emma with a lawyer and signature for a different surgery.”
In a few days, Christopherson could manage to whisper; after two weeks, he could talk. It was another couple of weeks until he could finally sing again.
He asked his surgeon when he could get a tattoo; she said to give it a month. He made an appointment exactly four weeks out in Chicago with tattoo artist Ricki Proper, and got a full head tattoo for his “prize” — adorned with Alaska wildflowers. The entire piece took 13 hours.
“[Ricki was] telling me they were going through a break up earlier that year, and they kept listening to my songs and it kind of got them through it,” Christopherson said. “I was going through all this shit and I’m telling them this tattoo is the end of an era, to move on. We were both on that healing journey together, it really felt like that.”
Christopherson broke his hiatus in August when he performed at Northern Abundance Weekend in Fairbanks.
“I got my singing voice back, and it’s different — I’ll say that,” Christopherson said. “There’s muscles in there that are gone, and I’m having to relearn it. I can hear it, it’s not the same but nothing I can’t overcome.”
In September, Christopherson headlined a benefit concert alongside Carpenter for the Qargi Academy Tribal School in Wainwright, as well as the Áak’w Rock Indigenous Music Festival. He’s looking forward to opening for Jason Isbell at the Ryman Auditorium in October.
He recently traveled to Minto, Bettles, Evansville, Tanana and Manley with Nick Carpenter of Medium Build and Portugal. The Man to speak on why they oppose the industrial road to Ambler.
“It felt really good,” he said. “It filled my cup.”
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
