Our friend Brian, one of the co-owners of Greenfire Games (one of our favorite game stores!) has been diagnosed with cancer in his jaw. In the words of his friend, and Greenfire Games co-owner, Mike:

For the last year, Brian has been instrumental in building a close community of players and collectors at Greenfire Games; the tabletop game store he opened in 2016. In the last few weeks, everyone in the community was shocked to learn that Brian was diagnosed with cancer in his jaw.

In order to keep the cancer under control, his surgical team recommended removal of the left half of his jaw. Brian's surgery took place on August 2, 2017. The lower left half of his jaw bone has been replaced with a metal piece, supplemented by bone and skin from his chest and leg.

The next step will be a round of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Once the treatment has ended, Brian will go into his next surgery to graft the healthy tissue from his leg.

Furthermore, as the owner of a small business that is still inside it's first year, Brian does not currently have health insurance. He has applied for state aid, but it has yet to be fully approved. In addition to Brian's medical leave, his fiance Michelle, who also works at Greenfire Games, will be taking some time off to help take care of him.

We are organizing a benefit to help raise money to cover his hospital bills. The event is September 23 at Greenfire games, and will be a full day event with lots of fun activities.

Here is the planned schedule (this is still early, and is subject to change):

10:00AM-Noon X-Wing Tournament

Noon-6PM Main Event, including game demos, live music, a bake sale, a live appearance from Captain Pancakes, and 2 different raffles.

7PM-12AM Magic Pre-Release Tournament

All raffle and bake sale proceeds, and tournament entry fees will go towards Brian's bills.

Games being demoed (subject to change):

Aetherium
Frontline No Komrades
Wreck-Age
Song Of Blades And Heroes
Shadow War Armageddon
Frostgrave
Arena Rex
Bushido
Hexplore IT
Alewood
TBD Naval game
The Dogs And The Dust
Outsider
Test of Honor
Bolt Action
Additional games announced soon!

There will be 2 raffles. One will have $1 tickets and smaller prizes, while another will have $10 tickets and larger prizes. Prizes generously donated by (subject to change):

Hyacinth Games/Wreck-age
Anvil 8
Shawnimals
Ironheart Artisans
Giga Robo
Breaker Press
Hexplore-IT
Captain Pancakes
Mack The Maker
Joe Padilla
Murder By Death
Player’s Guitars
M&Models
Mantic
Chicago Skirmish Wargames
More prizes added soon!

Live music from (subject to change):

Jake Pallisard from Frequilibrium
Marty Saldana and Brendan Maier from The Underclass
The Paulsen Bros.

We have more in store for this event, so add it to your calendar! It's going to be a big one! Hope you can all make it out and help Brian fight the cancer-dragon.

If anyone would like to help out in any way, either by running game demos, or donating prizes for the raffle (or if you have any other fantastic idea!) please let us know at info@chicagoskirmishwargames.com

If you can't make the event, or would like to make a donation, a gofundme page has been set up as well: https://www.gofundme.com/brianstuchell