Readers,
I try not ask many favors from all of you aside from the occasional click and read what nutty things I have to say but I’d like to utilize this blog to address something that hits close to home.
The picture above is a good friend of mine and one of the most selfless, nicest and down to earth people you will ever meet. His name is Tim Charboneau, pictured with his adorable family. I first met Tim my freshman year in college at Wichita State University. We both joined the same fraternity. He was this skinny kid from Lebo, KS who was new to the “big city” (compared to Lebo, KS, Wichita is like NYC). My first memory of Tim was at a party and he was out there doing the splits on the dance floor and giving his Yoda impressions to impress the ladies. While it didn’t quite impress the ladies, it certainly impressed my friends and I who quickly gravitated towards his carefree attitude. We made it instant connection and would spend the rest of college drinking beers on the patio, skipping class to play Super Smash Brothers and play sand volleyball until 4 in the morning. He was also my teammate in intramural basketball when we represented Wichita State at regionals and lost to the Kansas State Basketball practice squad 148-62……in a forty minute game. Our basketball game didn’t impress the ladies either.
He was always the one guy who everybody loved and never had an enemy in the world. That is until September 5th. Tim had surgery to remove a 3 1/2” tumor from his head. That enemy turned out to be Gliobastoma Multiforme (a.k.a. G.B.M.), Stage 4 which is a rare form of brain cancer that is incurable. It effects 3 in 100,000 people a year. Without treatment, the survival rate is 3-5 months. With treatment, the most common length of survival following diagnosis is 12 to 15 months, with fewer than 3% to 5% of people surviving longer than five years.
Years later Tim would finally impress a special girl he met in college who would beome his wife. Through that marriage, they now have three beautiful children ages 11, 6 and a recent addition, a son who is 5 months old. We want Tim to keep moving forward and fight this cancer for as long as he can to be there for his family. Even with this bad news, Tim still approaches this day as if nothing happened. His carefree attitude continues to stay strong.
On Thursday, October 19th, we will be putting on a charity dining event at the Il Vicino located at Bradley Fair and College Hill. From 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. if you bring in the attached flyer below, 20% of your purchase will go back to fund the Here For Tim fundraiser. All you have to do is print out the below flyer or show them the below image from your cell phone to your cashier when ordering your food. That’s it; it’s super easy! This is available at both Wichita locations all day long. Their sandwiches, pizza and pastas are all wonderful. You will leave a happy diner and know you ate for a good cause.
It’s my goal to get as many people out there to enjoy some great food and help support an even greater man. I’ll also be putting in some sweat equity. I’ll be there during lunch and dinner serving food and drinks. I’m a retired server but still have an active Food Handler’s Card from the Lord’s Diner so will be ready to put in a little work for the cause. Any tips I make will go directly to Tim. Please share this with everybody you know. And if you’re a Wichita State supporter, you should totally go. Tim also spent some time as WuShock at games, yes he’s a former mascot!
I also want to send a major thanks to Il Vicino who was totally gracious and willing to participate in this cause. If you can’t make the event, here’s a GoFundMe that was set up for him.
Happy Dining and Thank You,
Eddy
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