Mackenzie Knight: A Personal Story
My beautiful and delightful friend, Mackenzie Knight, Indie author and paranormal DJ, is ill.
I have known this for a year or so.
She has virulent cancer and it is spreading throughout her body. Her brother Michael made this announcement this morning on Facebook.
Mackenzie on Facebook
She has virulent cancer and it is spreading throughout her body. Her brother Michael made this announcement this morning on Facebook.
Mackenzie on Facebook
"Hi, This is to Mackenzie Knights friends ! This is Michael Alisero Mackenzie's Brother. My sister is slowing losing her battle with Cancer and she wanted me to tell you to please pray for her and she doesn't know if she will be back on. If you have any questions please feel free to write me on Face book at Mike Alisero. Thank you"
I met Mackenzie purely by chance. I was bored one night and came across a link on my timeline advertising her radio show.
Mackenzie Radio Show
So I tuned in and had a listen. I never stopped. I listened every Sunday night, right to the point where her illness meant she could no longer continue. After two or three shows, I took the bull by the horns and contacted her on FB messenger and asked her if she would like to come round the Cauldron, my then fledgling Interview blog.
Mackenzie Interview on The Cauldron
She could have easily said no. At her peak, three to four thousand people downloaded Mackenzie's shows and at the time, I was getting fifty views for my interviews if I was lucky. On a good week.
Not only did she agree to be interviewed, she bought one of my books! That's how nice she is. For some weird reason, we became pals from a distance (Nottingham, England and South Dakota), and we e-mailed regularly about matters silly, paranormal and family.
It was one of those friendships which make you feel great about life and it came from nowhere.
Mackenzie Radio Show
So I tuned in and had a listen. I never stopped. I listened every Sunday night, right to the point where her illness meant she could no longer continue. After two or three shows, I took the bull by the horns and contacted her on FB messenger and asked her if she would like to come round the Cauldron, my then fledgling Interview blog.
Mackenzie Interview on The Cauldron
She could have easily said no. At her peak, three to four thousand people downloaded Mackenzie's shows and at the time, I was getting fifty views for my interviews if I was lucky. On a good week.
Not only did she agree to be interviewed, she bought one of my books! That's how nice she is. For some weird reason, we became pals from a distance (Nottingham, England and South Dakota), and we e-mailed regularly about matters silly, paranormal and family.
It was one of those friendships which make you feel great about life and it came from nowhere.
Mackenzie is interested in the paranormal. Not the fictional paranormal of vampires and werewolves, but paranormal activity in real life. Her show is called Unearthly Encounters.
Unearthly Encounters Live!
Paranormal Radio, at its best, we cover a vast number of topics, from the Paranormal,Bigfoot, UFO's,Psychics, The Occult, Witchcraft, Magick,Spirituality, to the Supernatural, and everything in between. I am an Author, ...
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Emerging from her interest, she interviewed countless practitioners, acolytes, and believers in ethereal concepts such as spirits, hauntings, poltergeists and - my favourite - extra-terrestrial life forms.
With her friends and colleagues on the panel, she sat patiently and politely and listened to some extremely convincing members of America's alternative fringe.
Believers. Fanatics. Paranormal authors with multiple books and essays to their credit. Academics with obscure doctorates in alien activity from universities and colleges that can only be found on the Internet. Hapless individuals who have survived alien abduction and are back to tell the tale. Families who, like the Lutz family in Amityville, have had to escape their haunted houses in the suburbs, unfortunately constructed on ancient native American burial grounds.
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| George Lutz |
Mackenzie interviewed them all with the same polite interest a mother might show to her daughter's new boyfriend, as she serves the tea and biscuits on lace doillies.
She is one of those perceptive interviewers who allow their guests to speak, who never overloads the show with her own opinions and who is genuinely interested in the conversation, no matter how bizarre.
And there have been some very wacky guests indeed: There was the three time author who, quite brilliantly, enlightened us about the existence of a tightly guarded farm somewhere in the MidWest which is in fact a portal to an alien universe.
Furthermore, the US government are aware of this, have purchased the farm and are actively engaging with the aliens.
She is one of those perceptive interviewers who allow their guests to speak, who never overloads the show with her own opinions and who is genuinely interested in the conversation, no matter how bizarre.
And there have been some very wacky guests indeed: There was the three time author who, quite brilliantly, enlightened us about the existence of a tightly guarded farm somewhere in the MidWest which is in fact a portal to an alien universe.
Furthermore, the US government are aware of this, have purchased the farm and are actively engaging with the aliens.
Mackenzie treated him with the respect you might show a BBC foreign correspondent live from the Gaza Strip - which is a major strength, one of the reasons she proved so popular.
(He also believed The Men In Black are real. This fella slayed me, he really did).
There was the show when a certain Doctor said that poltergeists tried to strangle his estranged girlfriend, while the two shared a bed somewhere in sunny San Diego.
When the Doctor, (of Alien Planetology or something), began to reveal to the listeners the fundamentals of his failing relationship, you slowly realised that the poltergeist explanation of the attempted strangulation was the rank outsider of the two possibles.
Yet Mackenzie never deviated once: She never doubted his sincerity even while the rest of us were calling the cops.
Our brilliant host remained indefatigable even when a rogue guest, an ersatz psychic, told Mackenzie that her bedroom closet was haunted with malevolent spirits who were a threat to her and her daughter, and that she needed an exorcism immediately.
Picture that happening to you.
You would be pretty annoyed - well, I would be furious at the cheek of it! - but Mackenzie was unflappable and polite to a fault.
And that very contrast between Mackenzie's calm rationality and the unhinged madness she faced every Sunday night made Unearthly Encounters unmissable.
When I started to sell a few books, Mackenzie invited me on the show to discuss things which are no longer important, but she fell ill and that never happened.
I pray everyday (even though I am not much of a believer), that one day, she will once again pick up the mic.
And over a distance of 6ooo miles (and thanks to the wonder of Skype), she and I will have a rap about nothing much at all and then make it the best radio show ever.
Why am I writing this?
Simple. I don't really know what else to do.
I'm upset and annoyed that Mackenzie is going through so much pain, with all the chemo, and experimental drugs, and the heavy duty morphine patches that wipe you out and stop working after a while. I feel impotent. I feel frustrated. I live 6000 miles away and I can't even sit and read her a book by her bedside.
That's why I had to write.
If you want to help Mackenzie, I'd like you to do one of three things.
a) Buy her book "Cypress Hill" and give it a review. She became so ill shortly after publication, she never got the chance to fully market it and it's been forgotten completely. That would cheer her up no end.
I have just done so and I shall be reading it next week. Like all authors, its being noticed and being read that is important rather than the money and the five stars.
If enough of us buy this book, and its the only thing I can think of to do, then it might just give her a boost. Hopefully, a significant boost too.
b) Pray for her and drop a comment on her Facebook wall. She is Indie through and through and a massive supporter. That will give her a boost too.
c) Drop a comment on this blog and I shall forward it to Mackenzie's brother (who I don't know). Please RT this whenever possible. Believe me, she deserves it.
I firmly believe that God, Buddha, Krishna, Fate or Mother Earth won't let Mackenzie pass away. She's too good. And way too young (Mackenzie is in her forties).
But most of all I believe in the power of love and positive thinking and Mackenzie deserves all my positivity, all my love and all my belief.
If you can throw in some of that too, brilliant. Glad to have you on board.
Mackenzie, you are adored by so many of us and I wish you, with everything I have, improved health, a prognosis you and your family deserve, and the end of pain. And one day, I know you'll interview me and I'll make you laugh like you've mislaid a feather duster in your knickers!
****
Any comments left for Mackenzie on this blog post will be forwarded to her.
Thank you for reading Mackenzie's story.
Mary Ann Bernal
Hi Mary Ann, thank you for doing this for Mackenzie. She really is terrific and she will appreciate this. Look forward to you sending this over. Mark xx
ReplyDeleteI am really glad I saw you on twitter and came to your blog. God Bless you for sharing the story of Mackenzie and her battle with cancer. I will be keeping her in my thoughts and prayers. You tell her that I was told I had a 20% chance of living five years after a diagnosis of lung cancer. (I have never even smoked). I am here to tell Mackenzie that I will be ten years cancer free this coming St. Patrick's Day. Keep up the hope because anything is possible. I knew I had too much to do and tried to keep a positive attitude. Thanks again Mary Ann for sharing the story of your friend Mackenzie. Sending lots of positive vibes her way.
ReplyDeleteLinda, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. I am forwarding your message to Mackenzie. God bless you.
DeleteI just wanted everyone to know today Mackenzie Knight lost her battle with Cancer ! She will be greatly missed by her Family and friends. Thank you all for your prayers.
ReplyDeleteMary Ann-I am so sorry to hear she lost the battle. At least we know she is out of pain and at peace. She will missed by so many from the sounds of it. Thanks for sharing the sad news. Rest in Peace Mackenzie.
ReplyDelete