The Bronco Fundraiser for Quentin

I am so late in paying tribute to this wonderful event, but I would like to share a little about the fundraiser that was put together for Quentin at my mother's restaurant. I didn't get a chance to do much of anything since it went by so fast, but I have a few photos since I sent my camera around for someone to try and take a few pictures.

There was a woman who started selling baked goods like carrot cake and pumpkin bread at my mother's restaurant, The Lighthouse Cafe, and one day found out that my mother's grandson, Quentin, was sick in New Jersey with Leukemia. Her name is Sherri, and she had a brother who was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 7 and passed away when he was 10 years old from the cancer. She felt like doing something for our family, and decided to do a fundraiser for us.

As it turns out, her son is a Denver Bronco, #55 D.J. Williams, and she asked if he wouldn't mind getting involved as well. She initially described the fundraiser would be a couple hours one afternoon where D.J. would come by and sign some autographs for people who donate and some t-shirts would be made with Quentin's picture on it. It was just going to be a low key thing that was going to happen whether or not Quentin and I would be in town for it.

Then....it grew. I don't know the extent of all of Sherri's connections, but she has some, and I ended up being interviewed by CBS, channel 4 in Denver, and it was aired several times over Mother's Day and the following day or two before the fundraiser on May 14th. Sherri did a radio interview with ESPN The Fan, and the appearance by one Denver Bronco grew to 3 Denver Broncos. She even got Continental Airlines to waive the change fee on our flights when the date changed so we could attend, and airlines NEVER waive the change fee.

There were hundreds of paper fliers that went up all over the city of Parker, including a large poster in the window of The Lighthouse Cafe and they were seen at salons, the post office, just everywhere! The posters showed photos of the Bronco Players and Sherri had a large poster of Quentin blown up (the same photo used on the t-shirts)

for the cafe. Sherri ordered a large banner with a recent picture of Quentin (we got to take home) and it was signed by many people who attended.

There were a few other community attendees.....the local Fire Department had a fire truck and a Paramedic truck in the parking lot, and the MedVed Hummer dealership brought 2 hummers to park in front of the restaurant as well, in navy blue and Bronco orange, of course! Sherri baked 96 carrot cakes and arranged for many items to be auctioned at a raffle, all proceeds going towards the fundraiser of course.

On the day of the fundraiser, we showed up a little early and Quentin colored at the table where the Broncos were eating, and the 3 that were orginally coming grew to be 8! There was Quentin in a high chair with 8 Denver Broncos around him eating burgers at my mother's restaurant. It was surreal!

People I know and invited came, but they were people I had never met in person. Another child with cancer named Kennedy came with her amazing mother and many friends from the Caring Bridge community. Caring Bridge is the free service that we and many families use to communicate the status of medically ill patients to a support group near and far via email updates, photos, and a guestbook that can be signed with encouraging messages from the readers. Another special family who came was Juile and Jason, a couple who lost their little girl Kalya last December to cancer. Julie, Kayla's mother, started the Believe Foundationand has become proactive with CureSearch which is the organization behind the
Children's Oncology Group (oncologists that collaborate to provide the best clinical trials to all affiliated hospitals across the country) and other efforts to raise awarness, funds and support of childhood cancers. CureSearch and people like Julie were involved with the recently passed
National Childhood Cancer Awarness Day every year on September 13th starting in 2008. There were at least 5 other children at the fundraiser who had been diagnosed and treated with cancer, and they were my heroes of the day, and they all took turns getting their picture taken with the group of Denver Broncos (and so did their mothers!).


My family was mostly in attendance as well, including my grandmother, my sisters, brothers, my mother of course, and even my sister's mother in law who made a special donation and just overwhelmed me with her generosity.
Sherri had family and her daughter's friends there as well wearing the Quentin t-shirts and helping set up and run the fundraiser. My sister's friend Angela set up a massage chair and donated massages for donations all afternoon. I was only able to get about 5 minutes from her myself, darn! My mother had many of her favorite, regular customers come to meet Quentin in person, and these people had seen his picture in the restaurant and had been donating to a collection box at the cash register because they wanted to give money periodically when they came in. My mother's coffee supplier Rocky Mountain Java has already done a fundraiser for Quentin, providing bags of hot chocolate for purchase at The Lighthouse Cafe. They came all the way from Idaho Springs, CO to give even more.

I am sure I am leaving out people who came, and contributed and who probably didn't get 2 minutes of time from me that day. It was so busy, the way you feel at your wedding or shower when there are more people there than you have time to talk to, then they leave you things and you don't even get to adequately thank them for coming and what they gave, let alone ask them how THEY are doing. To make that overwhelming situation worse, Quentin was overtired (because the fundraiser was scheduled during his nap) and he was not himself. He was very demanding and needy of my prescence, and he is usually better with crowds and letting someone else "chase" him while I talk and play hostess.

It was a wonderful day, full of people who gave with their hearts just by being there. It never mattered to me that there was any money involved. Yes, there is a cost to having a child with cancer, no matter how good your insurance is. There is always co-pays, parking, loss of wages, special diet needs, prescriptions and a huge cost in quality of life, but meeting the wonderful people like Sherri and D.J., who got involved, and the other families and children who attended who are still fighting cancer themselves, make it all tolerable somehow.

At the end, we all released the Bronco colored balloons into the air. It was a whirlwind, but a great event we will always remember!