Terminally ill musician's last song charts worldwide as she enters hospice
DC musician's final song, written with son, goes viral as she fights cancer
A local musician is releasing her final song as she enters hospice while fighting cancer. Cat Janice wrote the song with her 7-year-old son and has now signed the rights over to him in hopes of leaving something behind. FOX 5's Jacqueline Matter has the story.
A local musician is releasing her final song as she enters hospice while fighting cancer.
Cat Janice wrote the song with her 7-year-old son and has now signed the rights over to him in hopes of leaving something behind.
More than two years after being diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer, Cat Janice is sharing her final wish from her hospice bed.
"Please stream the song for him," she said.
On Jan. 15, Cat found out she's in the final days of her life.
"I’m sitting here on oxygen and, you know, a pain pump. I’m trying to take advantage of this time that God's given me," Janice said.
The D.C. artist didn’t know if she’d live to see her next birthday or the release of her new song, written with her 7-year-old son Loren.
"I didn't think I was going to make it through the week," she said.
Her song came out on Jan. 19, a day before her 31st birthday.
In just under a week, "Dance You Outta My Head" has racked up hundreds of thousands of plays and is now charting worldwide.
"To wake up in the middle of the night to it charting on iTunes charts at number five in the world and number one in Australia, I’m just shocked," she said.
Janice says it's bittersweet that she’s seeing this fame while cancer slowly takes over her lungs.
"Don't get me wrong, it's exciting. It's really fun. And it makes me feel amazing to hear that people really love the music in the song and appreciate it, but there is very much that … I mean, I wake up in the morning and, you know, I cough up stuff and I’m sick, and I’m scared."
The inspiration for the song came from a car ride with her son.
"I remember looking in the back seat, and he had his window down and the sun was in his face and the warm breeze is in his hair, and we were just kind of bouncing around and having a good time. And that's kind of actually my little memory with that song," Janice explained.
Now, she has one simple request. Stream her song, save it, add it to your playlist, and use it in reels.
Janice transferred the rights to the song to her son, which means all the proceeds will go directly to him.
"Any amount of the song that is mine is going into a little trust fund for my son. So, to be there if I’m not," she said.
While Janice isn’t sure how much time she has left, she says she hopes her son remembers: "That she fought really, really hard. And, that she gave it her all. No matter what."
"Through all of this, I just want him to know that to the very, very end I was thinking of him and I fought as hard as I possibly could," she said.
Not only are the royalties from "Dance You Outta My Head" going to her son, but now Cat Janice’s entire catalog of songs will benefit Loren.
A Gofundme page is linked here to help Ms. Janice and her family.
Listen to "Dance You Outta My Head" below: