It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 years since my brother Bryan passed away. We still miss him every day and remember how funny, caring, and amazing he was.
Bryan was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma at the age of 29—It was isolating and scary, to say the least. Cancer disrupted his active life and changed so many things, but he was able to find ways to continue living his life during treatment and especially between treatments. For about 6 years he had multiple treatments, including 2 stem cell transplants. He also traveled, nurtured friendships, laughed a lot, and even went on some adventures with his newfound young adult cancer community. He thrived and adapted to life’s changing circumstances. Life certainly wasn’t easy, but Bryan’s spirit always shined through.
Bryan loved his family and friends, traveling and meeting new people. His charm and warmth brought him success in his career, and his positive outlook and sense of humor brightened the lives of everyone around him. Wherever Bryan went he created a community of friends.
Bryan’s spirit lives on in each of us and in all the beautiful things around us.
-Marc (and our family)
About the Program You’re Supporting
Tough Friends Art Clubs is an interactive online art workshop for young adults impacted by cancer (ages 18-45). Filled with creativity, community, fun, and friendship, our workshops are always free for participants. We even mail art supplies for many of our workshops!
These workshops are very popular and routinely fill within hours of opening registration. Since we started this program in 2022 we’ve had 18 workshops, 636 program visits, and at least 392 unique attendees from 37 states (plus Canada)!
With your generous support we can expand the reach of Tough Friends Art Club and positively impact even more lives. Your gifts will fund more workshops, allow us to send supplies, and ultimately help us bring joy and connection to young adults facing cancer.
Quotes from participants:
- “After the conclusion of each workshop my face hurts from smiling. I am so grateful for this program and the talented people who lead it!”
- “I loved being able to be with other people who are going through the same or similar thing as me. To be honest it almost brought me to tears how connected I felt.”
- “I have recently been feeling incredibly lonely and isolated. I needed this tonight more than I can express. I am so happy I was able to attend and really enjoyed the workshop.”
- “These workshops continue to be a joy and something I look forward to. It is always helpful in reminding me that I’m not alone in my cancer / survivorship journey and it cultivates such an amazing community. You can tell how happy it makes people to participate in these art workshops, and expression through art is a great way to bring people together.”