UPTOWN — Dan Stock, suffering from melanoma, spent many of his dying days organizing Danstock — a benefit concert he hoped would fund research that might one day give a chance to "somebody who can still make it."
"You just kind of believe what you’re going to believe ... and go from there," he said in January 2013, explaining how he found the strength to pursue such an endeavor as cancer spread throughout his body.
The Uptown resident, rock musician and sound engineer at Uptown Recording died last March at 37.
But Danstock lives on, thanks to his loved ones and friends.
"This was his vision, so I wanted to make sure that we continue on with his vision," said his wife Angie Stock, who is organizing Danstock 2014. "But also — the money is going toward melanoma research. Our goal is to at one point get to a stage where we'll find a cure, and no one else will have to lose their life to melanoma."
VIP tickets to Danstock 2014, which is Feb. 6 at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., cost $100 and include drinks, food and balcony seating. General admission tickets are $20. The event will feature performances from local bands DeXter, Sabers, Band Called Catch and American Wolf.
Two of the bands, Band Called Catch and DeXter, worked with Stock when he was alive. DeXter was the last band for which he produced a song.
Proceeds will go to the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Last year's event raised $35,000 and this year's goal is $40,000, according to organizers.
While Melanoma isn't the most common skin cancer, it is the deadliest. According to the latest numbers from the American Cancer Society, about 77,000 people were expected to be diagnosed with melanoma in 2013 and about 10,000 were expected to die from it. Melanoma rates have been increasing for 30 years.
Dan Stock's passing was "a huge loss," said Matt Denny, owner of Uptown Recording and one of Dan Stock's closest friends.
"As a studio we got by," he said. "But for a lot of his close friends, it's still tough. But we remember him. We have him in our hearts."
Angie Stock said that when it comes to coping with her late husband's death, there are good and bad days, "but overall, we're doing well."
She and their 5-year-old daughter Charlie have a "tremendous support group in Chicago," with Uptown Recording and friends, Angie Stock said, and both she and Dan's family have been there for support.
His death is something they knew "was going to be somewhere in the near future, and we kind of braced ourselves for it."
"You can never be fully prepared, but we were prepared as we could have been in that situation," Angie Stock said.
She said her daughter still "talks about Daddy all the time.
"They had a great bond together, and they created a lot of memories — and he's still with her," she said. "Everyday."
