PORN VALLEY—The adult entertainment community lost one of its legends with the death of ace cameraman Barry Wood on March 24. Wood had been sick off and on for six years prior to his death from liver cancer, which caused his kidneys to shut down and fluid to accumulate in his lungs; he had previously suffered a stroke and later a massive infection, both of which kept him from working for several months at a time. During those periods the only income coming in was that of his wife, the former Sindee Coxx, who left the adult industry when she and Wood married in 2000. However, Sindee was forced to take large amounts of time off from her job, both to provide care for Barry when he couldn't do so himself, and to make sure her minor child remained healthy and that all of his needs were attended to.
The problem is, all of that sickness and unemployment has left the family in dire straits. Barry's hospitalization, which lasted about ten days before he finally succumbed, has left Sindee with a mountain of debt, and with little means to pay it down, much less to provide for her child's needs. Fortunately, one of the couple's friends, former adult director Melissa Monet, began a fundraiser, "Help for Barry's Family," on the YouCaring website.
But while Monet is only seeking $10,000 to help Sindee and Barry's kid through these hard times, after being online for about five days, the site has raised only about a quarter of that amount.
"Last night our friend Barry transitioned from this life," Monet wrote on the fundraiser's home page. "Barry had been sick for very long time with multiple illnesses and/or injuries and his wife [Sindee] has had to leave her job in order to care for him. Unfortunately Barry had not expected nor prepared for his health to take such a drastic turn and leave his family facing insurmountable bills and expenses.
"This is where we come in," she continued. "This fundraiser is to help [Sindee] with the bills, memorial, funeral arrangements and her every day expenses. Hopefully this will give [Sindee], their son ... and his daughter ... some breathing room and time to process while they get his affairs in order."
To be clear, no one's trying to put together an amount that would allow Sindee and the kids to live in luxury for even a day, let alone the rest of their lives; it's just enough to get them through the aftermath of Barry's tragic but slow demise. There's no doubt that Sindee will be returning to work once she's settled the family's outstanding bills—and frankly, even $10,000 may not be enough to do that—but at this time, the family is struggling, and is turning to one of the few arenas where Barry had a lot of friends and, frankly, to whom many in the adult industry owe a great debt for all the stellar work Barry did for them.
Friends and co-workers eulogized Barry in an article published earlier this week on AVN.com, and several of them have already stepped up with donations to the fundraiser ... but more is needed. Hopefully, during this holiday weekend, enough contributions will be received from adult industry members (and, hopefully, others who knew him or knew of him) to put this fundraiser over—hopefully, WAY over—the top.
Please give whatever you can spare, to "Help for Barry's Family."
Photo from Barry's Facebook page
