Help Daniel

About Daniel:

Our friend Daniel's got a lot of things going for him. He's a terrific artist who's coming close to fulfilling his dream of professionally drawing fantasy art. His friends and family are all rooting for him. He is potentially handsome from multiple angles. There's a problem, though. A terrible problem. This thing grew in his brain:

On September 3rd, Daniel got surgery to remove the tumor at St. Joseph's in Phoenix, Arizona. The operation went well, but tests confirmed that the tumor was a glioblastoma. According to the Brain Tumor Foundation, the total cost of glioblastoma removal and subsequent treatments is generally estimated to be 450,000 US Dollars.

Daniel didn't have insurance until November, meaning he was entirely uninsured for his initial surgery and much of his treatment. We don't want Daniel and his family to be faced with a new financial burden after surviving this. Please join us in helping them. Daniel's going to need all the help he can get.

If you can't afford to contribute, please help spread the word! Every bit helps.

Press about Daniel:

More about Daniel:

He truly is driven to create as a person. He's been filling up sketchbooks for years and years, and he is always pushing himself to do better: to perfect his craft. He has however, struggled to find the appropriate outlet for him and his work.

This past year, Daniel started playing Dungeons and Dragons with a group of close friends. For him, it clearly was a step above a hobby, and really gave him a new direction in his artistic life. He spent hours and hours creating material to share with his friends, enough time that he joked about it being his second job. Even though he has admired and followed many concept artists over the years, he had never truly considered entering into the concept art industry before. Creating materials for his campaign with his friends inspired him to start building a portfolio in earnest to apply as an artist to game companies. He went to GenCon this year and met many of the people who work professionally in the field. He came back determined to become a professional concept artist and get his art out there, in a game, this year.

Then he found out he had a brain tumor.

Not having health insurance, he had been avoiding having major tests done regarding some episodes he had experienced over the last year. He felt stuck between a rock and hard place. He didn't want to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in debt over tests he did not know would help, and he didn't want to just ignore his problem either. Eventually, the tumor forced his hand, he went to the ER, and ended up at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix Arizona, under state-of-the-art (but not free) care.

And here we are.

This fundraiser is put on by us, Daniel's friends, to help Daniel and his family bounce back from this. We wanted to incorporate Daniel's artwork because it represents what an amazing, talented, and deserving person he is, and also because it represents his hopes for the future and how close he is to his goal of becoming a professional game artist.

Daniel, his family, and his friends all appreciate any support you can give to get him through this.

Questions? e-mail tyrus@stttutter.com