Large printouts of Tim's official NHL headshot, which stand three-and-a-half feet tall, have been popping up in the stands at Boston Bruins games at home and in cities around the League since Dave started selling his younger brother's giant heads on paper and t-shirts with all the proceeds going to The Jimmy Fund.
The cause is dear to the brothers from New Hampshire. Dave was 17 years old when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and he was treated at The Jimmy Fund's sole beneficiary, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Two years later, he was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a disorder that caused his body to stop producing blood and bone marrow. He needed a bone marrow transplant, and Tim, who was 17 and playing junior hockey in Massachusetts, was his donor.
"He's turned it into a charitable event, which is cool," Tim, a forward for the Bruins, told NHL.com. "To be able to give back to the hospital that we had to go to when he was dealing with his stuff, we feel really awesome doing it."
Dave, now 29, was in college when he began feeling unusually tired. One night after attending a Boston Celtics game, he barely made it back to the car. He went to the doctor the next day and an hour later he was admitted to the hospital where he received six pints of blood.
He underwent an intense week of chemotherapy, and Tim, still in a cast from wrist surgery at his season's end, was pegged as Dave's donor through a series of blood tests. Tim had a 25-percent chance of being a suitable donor, and he was cleared even though their blood types didn't match.
Dave eventually made a full recovery. Tim couldn't do any physical activity, not even carry his own book bag, for six weeks because of the incisions they made in his hip bone.
"I couldn't do anything, but it was worth it to see Dave getting better the whole time," Tim said.
Tim signed with the Buffalo Sabres as an undrafted free agent in 2013. In his second season, when the Sabres played a game in Boston, Dave printed out Tim's face, about 18 inches high, and handed them out to a dozen of his friends for the game.
"I think the best part about it was he didn't tell me about it," Tim said. "I come out for warmups and I see my big ugly face out on the glass and he's standing there with a big grin on his face and I was like, 'Oh, that's Dave.'
"All of my teammates were giving me a hard time about it, but I think they were just jealous it wasn't their face."
Tim signed with the Bruins in 2016, and Dave took the Timmyheads up a notch. He printed the larger versions and began selling them, along with T-shirts, for official Timmyhead nights to benefit The Jimmy Fund. This season, one was on a road trip to Montreal when the Bruins played the Canadiens on Jan. 20, and the second was at TD Garden in Boston against the Calgary Flames on Feb. 13.
Instagram from @nhlbruins: "What are you lookin' at?"
Last year, the Timmyheads raised almost $1,700 for The Jimmy Fund, and this year, they've raised $2,500 and counting, with orders coming from Florida, California, Texas, Colorado and Western Canada.
"It's pretty cool to see that because it started as such a small thing with 15 of my friends," Dave told NHL.com.
Tim is all too happy to lend his mustachioed mug to a great cause, especially knowing how much it means to his brother, who has gone on to live a healthy, vibrant life.
"He lives every day to the fullest because he knows very well that any day could be the last day," Tim said. "He's been through a lot and he has a great attitude. I've definitely learned a lot from him over the years with how strong he's been and brushing off all the hard times he's been through. You wouldn't be able to tell meeting him that he's been through all that stuff because he's such a strong kid."
Timmyheads and t-shirts can be purchased at
www.tim-schaller.com
.
