CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Rick Springfield will perform a concert in southeast Missouri to help raise money for a 12-year-old girl's fight against brain-stem cancer.
The pop singer, whose string of hits in the 1980s included "Jessie's Girl," will perform Dec. 8 at the Show Me Center, center officials and Springfield's management firm, Doyle-Kos Entertainment, said Thursday.
Proceeds will benefit Sahara Aldridge of Cape Girardeau, who was diagnosed with the disease this summer. Springfield is a longtime friend of Sahara's family.
When he learned of her cancer, Springfield began using his Web site to encourage fans to support the Aldridge family spiritually and financially.
"He is one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet," Sahara's mother, Amy, said. "He considers Sahara the daughter he never had."
Since her diagnosis, Sahara has spent most of her time receiving treatment at the Children's Hospital at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Amy Aldridge said Sahara has shown steady progress. The tumor's growth has been stopped, and Sahara has regained some of the motor skills the tumor interfered with.
Last week, Sahara came home for the first time in months and attended two benefit events that raised more than $20,000 to pay for travel and medical expenses.
