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Marco man who contributed to countless charities is now in need
Community rallies for Disco Dave as he battles cancer
KELLY FARRELL / Staff
Dave Bierbrauer, 53 doesn't let the recent diagnosis of lymph node cancer stop him from a Sunday visit to Stan's Idle Hour entertainment on Goodland. Bierbrauer, known as Disco Dave, is asked by Steve Gober, celebrating his 43rd birthday, and Idle Hour owner Stan Gober, 82 to pose for a photograph. Bierbrauer will have surgery to remove his malignant tumor Wednesday. Fundraisers are scheduled in Goodland and Marco.
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MARCO ISLAND — Known to many as Disco Dave, Dave Bierbrauer, 53, always seems to maintain a positive attitude. Bierbrauer was recently diagnosed with lymph node cancer, leaving many to wonder how something bad could happen to someone who did so much good.
“Dave has never seen a cloudy day ... I ran into him on the street a couple days ago. It was the first time I’d seen him be serious,” said Roger Raymond, Disco’s friend for about 25 years.
Raymond is the athletic director at Marco Island Charter Middle School where Disco Dave taught golf to the children for about six years.
“It was totally awesome,” Bierbrauer said of his coaching and he added, “they didn’t want to see anyone else but Disco Dave.”
Bierbrauer is a golf pro at Lely Resort and a disc jockey.
Bierbrauer said a lump on his face was there for about six months and as it began to get tingly and numb, he knew something was wrong.
“I knew no one should have two bumps on their face and their face shouldn’t be numb ... It didn’t even cross my mind (that it could be cancer,)” he said.
When he sat down in the doctor’s office in early October he said he was stunned by what the doctor had to say.
“I was devastated ... They gave me two options. I don’t even want to talk about the first one,” Bierbrauer said, but eventually let on that option one was to do nothing and came with the prognosis that he would have less than two years to live.
Without much thought he was on to option two, which includes surgery to remove up to about 70 percent of the malignant tumors on his face.
He goes into a four-hour surgery 10 a.m., Wednesday, and will remain at the Cleveland Clinic on Pine Ridge Road in Naples for two to five days.
Visitors are welcome to the hospital he said.
“I’m sure my room will be full. It better be,” said Bierbrauer, a resident of Marco Island for 25 years.
Uninsured, Bierbrauer will have expensive medical bills as treatment, either chemotherapy or radiation, will follow several weeks after the surgery.
“It didn’t take much to decide we need to help. His income and insurance coverage aren’t great,” said Dick Shanahan, another of Disco Dave’s longtime friends.
Originally from St. Louis, Mo., friend Steve Reynolds said Bierbrauer’s “love of people and music is what turned him into a DJ,” and brought him the nickname Disco Dave.
Reynolds and Bierbrauer participated in several fundraisers together including promotion of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and assistance for Cameron Elliott, who suffered severe burns in a sailboat accident January 2007, eventually losing his life to complications from the burns.
“We’ve seen him at every fundraiser. If anyone deserves credit for being a good community member, it’s Dave,” Reynolds said.
Friends also said if anyone can get over the attack of these aggressive tumors, it’s Disco Dave.
“I gotta be positive, think positive and I can get this thing. That’s what’s going to keep me here,” Bierbrauer said.
Fundraisers are planned in the coming weeks including a “Tribute to Disco” from 5 to 8 p.m., Nov. 2, at the Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort. There is a $20 minimum donation for entry. Auctions, a 50/50 raffle, live music and appetizers will be available.
Contact Steve Reynolds 285-6785 to make donations or find out more about this and upcoming fundraisers for Disco Dave.
Disco Dave Day is scheduled 12 to 5 p.m., Dec. 14, at Stan’s Idle Hour Restaurant in Goodland. The fundraiser will include an all-star band jam with details to follow as the event draws near.
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COME ON DISCO , YOU CAN DO IT !!!!!!!
#1 Posted by OldMarcoMan on October 15, 2008 at 1:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It is very difficult to read about people who are so good and beloved abandoned to the charity of others. Those who read these NDN posts often know that I frequently try to rally support for universal healthcare. I hope Disco Dave will excuse me for taking up space from his many admirers who will leave their kind words here, but there is a very powerful message that his experience should convey.
We are a nation of people who care about each other and so we cannot leave the availability of health care access in the hands of those whose only motive is profit i.e. private insurance companies. This is not about the free market and how competition is good for business. Competition is good when the goals are maximizing the best health care practices and covering the most people, but in the free market world, competition ends up being how can we maximize profit by cutting people who have pre-existing conditions, and those who might have expensive needs, and how can we skimp on providing services etc. And yet, premiums continue to rise at a pace many times the increase in wages.
Consider an alternative: All income receiving adults (except retirees) pay, on a sliding scale, into a nationalized system that is in effect the bridge between Medicare and Medicaid. The premiums would be less per person than the current costs because as a non-profit, there are no advertising expenses, no corporate jets, no huge lobbying expenses, no golden parachutes, no incentive fees to middlemen and so on.
We need to have a universal healthcare program so people like Disco Dave and many of our other friends and their children will not be left without healthcare insurance.
I wish you a speedy and complete recovery.
#2 Posted by conchsoup on October 15, 2008 at 6:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
HEY DISCO.....YOU ARE ONE GREAT GUY AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS IN GOODLAND AKA GATELAND... ARE PULLING FOR YOU..IF BEARDOG CAN DO IT ..SO CAN YOU !!!!!
#3 Posted by sailing on October 15, 2008 at 6:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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