Meet the JoCo man who inspired (and leads) celebrity-filled Thundergong! fundraiser
As Kansas City-based celebrity charity event Thundergong! heads into its eighth year entertaining fans and raising money for nonprofit Steps of Faith Foundation, CEO and musician Billy Brimblecom Jr. still can’t believe the amount of support it’s received.
Since the first Thundergong! in 2017, the concert and comedy show hosted by Brimblecom Jr.’s friend and “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis benefitting amputees has raised over $3.9 million for the foundation, allowing them to provide prosthetics to more than 1,800 people across the United States.
Music and comedy are two things the friends love, and it’s how they bonded in high school, when Brimblecom Jr. attended Shawnee Mission North High School and Sudeikis was a student at Shawnee Mission West High School.
This year’s nearly-sold out event starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Uptown Theater, and combines both aspects of their lives into one action-packed night.
The guest list includes comedians Will Forte and Sam Richardson, “Ted Lasso” co-stars Brendan Hunt and Cristo Fernandez (Richardson is also in the show), and musicians “Weird” Al Yankovic, Waxahatcee and Kevin Morby. Brimblecom Jr. is also the drummer for Summer Breeze, a local yacht rock tribute band, which will perform throughout the night.
“It’s a collaboration full of good people trying to put out the same positive vibrations to help people,” Brimblecom Jr. said.
Guests can bid on items now, like a Kansas City Current playoff experience package or a trip to Austin, Texas, for the 2026 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. But Brimblecom Jr. said there will be exclusive auction items only available for those in attendance.
All profits made from the items go to the foundation so they can continue providing prosthetic limbs to those without health insurance.
The start of Steps of Faith
While Steps of Faith was founded in 2013, its origins go all the way back to 2005, when then-28-year-old Brimblecom Jr. had his left leg amputated due to Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. The following year, family and close friends of his, including Sudekis, hosted a fundraiser at recordBar and raised over $30,000 to get him a prosthetic leg that would allow him to continue his music career.
He was living in Nashville with his wife and newborn child when he was asked at a prosthetic clinic to speak to someone who had also just lost their leg to cancer. The thought from his prosthesist was that if he could talk and show someone else who’s also losing a limb that things will be OK, then it’d help them in the short- and long-term as they adjusted to a new life.
“In that conversation, I could just see the hope in his eyes,” Brimblecom Jr., said.
Brimblecom Jr. enjoyed being a drummer, but couldn’t help feel that he had a larger calling in traveling the country and talking to people who had similar experiences.
He later learned from his prosthetist that the owner of the Nashville clinic, Dr. Robert Pittman, was starting a nonprofit to help people without health insurance get the prosthetic limbs they need. After some more discussions, Brimblecom Jr. and his family moved back to Johnson County and Steps of Faith was born, operating in Overland Park.
The foundation works with prosthetists around the country to order parts from the same company the prosthesist would order the parts from at wholesale prices, meaning they’re able to buy the pieces for cheaper than what retail lists.
Steps of Faith helped over 450 people in 2024, and are on pace to shatter that number in 2025.
“It’s a game-changing essential thing that should not need to be a thing, but unfortunately, is,” he said. “I’m thankful that we’re here to do it.”
Impact felt around the nation
Brimblecom Jr. said nothing has felt more right than helping people in need, and he shared a recent story of someone in Topeka that his foundation was able to help through word-of-mouth.
He’s friends with the people who helped run The Johnny Dare Morning Show, and they knew someone from Topeka who needed a prosthetic leg after they lost a leg in a work accident, but continued to install drywall using stilts since the leg he received didn’t fit properly.
Another person who they helped lost their leg in May in a motorcycle accident, and will be a featured guest at Thundergong!. Brimblecom Jr. said this person wears multiple hats, and was able to return to working on film and television sets, helping their wife at their restaurant and working out at CrossFit gyms in Nashville because of help from Steps of Faith.
Brimblecom Jr. is just happy to help as many people as possible with expenses, since he knows firsthand how expensive getting a properly-fitted prosthetic limb can be. At the end of the day, he wants to help people return to as normal of a life as they can.
“I want to be able to walk around with my kids and my family and be as normal as I can be and because I have access to the right tools, I can do that,” he said.
“We’re helping people that don’t have access to any of that stuff, and they deserve it.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
