Fundraiser launched after Matthew Sweet suffers major stroke

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched after singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet suffered a “debilitating” stroke while on tour recently.

The alt-rock musician was out on tour with Hanson earlier this month when he suffered a major stroke, Sweet’s manager Russell Carter revealed in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.

Carter explained of the situation: “Matthew was quickly admitted to Toronto Western Hospital where he was put into excellent care and taken out of immediate danger. Matthew was transferred to a rehabilitation center back home in Omaha today where he will undergo extensive therapy. He is now on a long, difficult road to recovery.”

The musician’s team has since set up the GoFundMe fundraiser to aid in paying for his medical bills, which campaign organiser Catherine Lyons estimates could be “close to a quarter of a million dollars.”

Catherine Lyons, a member of the Russell Carter Artist Management team in Atlanta, wrote on the campaign page: “The doctors and hospital care in Toronto were instrumental in saving Matthew’s life but health care is not free for Americans in Canada. He must now be flown back to the States on an ambulance transport plane with medical staff on board, to a specialized rehabilitation center, where he will receive around-the-clock care and therapy for six weeks. He will then require months of treatment and rehabilitation that we hope will lead to a full recovery.”

At the time of publishing, US$282,000 has been raised of the $400,000 target amount. Among the 5,000 donors are Judd Apatow, John Mayer, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, Ken Jennings, Ben Gibbard and Jon Cryer.

Sweet rose to prominence in the Georgia music scene of the 1980s, landing hits in the 1990s with ‘Girlfriend’, ‘I’ve Been Waiting’, ‘Time Capsule’ and ‘Sick of Myself’. He released his latest album – and 15th overall – ‘Catspaw’ in 2021.