Steps of Faith: How "Ted Lasso" star Jason Sudeikis and friends brought hope and charity to amputees
It was a day before his performance at the historic Uptown Theater in downtown Kansas City, and Billy Brimblecom Jr. was already on fire. Drumming is his life's reason and rhythm. It's been that way ever since he first heard "Wipe Out," that 1963 classic by The Surfers, on his dad's car radio. "The drum solo, very famous, comes on, and I start doing that on the dash, very poorly, and he's like, 'Oh you wanna play the drums? All right!'" Brimblecom said. "At that moment, I was like, 'Yes, I do!'"
But 20 years ago, a doctor gave him news that he feared might have him walking to a different beat altogether: "'Okay, there's a mass that's the size of a large apple in your ankle.' The last thing he said was, 'If it is a sarcoma, we have to remove the sarcoma, and everything that it is touching.' I said, 'So...?' And he said, 'The only reason you would lose your leg would be to save your life.'"
It was a sarcoma. Brimblecom went through 13 rounds of chemotherapy. "The thing I feared the most was losing my leg," he said. "You know, 'risking life or limb' is a turn of phrase. What does that imply? Second to death, the worst thing that you could think of is losing a limb."
When the inevitable came, his leg was amputated right above the knee.
Brimblecom's bandmates and friends rallied around him, including one of his oldest friends from Kansas City, Jason Sudeikis.
Sudeikis is known as the title character in Apple TV's "Ted Lasso," who has a gift for the aspirational: "You know, I think that when you care about someone, and you got a little love in your heart, there ain't nothing you can't get through together, you know what I'm saying?"
That kind of understanding was just what Brimblecom needed from his friend, even if Sudeikis wasn't exactly sure what to say. "You don't necessarily know how to – like, do you offer support? Solutions? You're sorta like, Oh, right, mortality. Okay," he said.
The two had met at an improv workshop in Kansas City. Brimblecom went on to be a professional musician in Nashville, and Sudeikis landed on "Saturday Night Live." In 2006, when Sudeikis learned insurance would only cover about half of Brimblecom's $60,000 prosthetic leg, he did what friends do.
"I remember you said, 'We'll just Kansas City the crap out of it!'" Brimblecom recalled. "And we knew what that meant."
Sudeikis helped organize a good old fashioned Kansas City barbecue. It raised more than enough money to get Brimblecom a new leg. But that was actually the least of it. A fundraiser for a friend is now an annual friendly jam session, called Thundergong!
Sudeikis brought plenty of others along for the ride, including fellow cast members like Hanna Waddingham, from "Ted Lasso," and Will Forte, from "SNL." They showed up to help simply because he asked.
Asked how it feels, Sudeikis replied, "Oh, it's the best. Like, last year, Flavor Flave, like, jumped in with two feet, and a clock!"
Will Forte & friends cover "Soda Pop" from "KPop Demon Hunters" at Thundergong! 2025:
To date, Thundergong! has helped pay for prosthetic limbs for more than 2,000 amputees all over the country through a nonprofit called Steps of Faith, aiding amputees who lack health insurance, or have no prosthesis coverage with their health insurance. Brimblecom said, "The thing that was preventing me from just walking around on a prosthetic leg versus using crutches, or being in a wheelchair, is insurance and money. You know, that shouldn't be a barrier."
Brimblecom became the CEO of Steps of Faith after he tried to cheer up someone else who had lost their own leg, and he realized something: "I went in, and I talked to the guy for five minutes. I don't even remember what I said, but I remember how I felt, and how he was looking at me. I could just see the excitement, and the hope in his eyes, and it was real positive. And I said, 'Gosh, I wish that could be my job.'"
It's not an easy job. About 500 people lose a limb every day in the U.S. The price of a prosthesis can be anywhere from a few thousand to more than $100,000. "This is not, I can drive a Honda but choose a Ferrari," said Brimblecom. "None of that applies when it comes to your limbs."
Imagine you're a contractor like Josh Conner. In 2015 he fell two stories off a scaffolding. "I figured if I landed on my feet, I'd be alright," he said. "But that's wasn't the case."
His heel was shattered; an infection did the rest, and he lost his leg.
The first prosthesis Conner was given did not afford him very much mobility. It was all his worker's comp would pay for. He could walk with it, but not work in it.
He was looking at a life on disability, until Billy Brimblecom and Steps of Faith stepped in. "Billy just said, 'We gotcha,'" Conner said.
And what went through his mind? "Total disbelief. It was a very emotional thing," Conner said.
He is back to work now, on stilts no less, with a new prosthetic limb tailored specifically to him. "Steps of Faith has given me my confidence back – you know, everything," Conner said. "So, it's like a new life almost."
Stories like that have not only kept Sudeikis coming back, but countless other actors and musicians as well. Many have become regulars, like Brendan Hunt, who sang a David Bowie song dressed as he did in "Ted Lasso," as "Piggy" Stardust. "The main thing is, this is a legit organization that does a really legit, you know, unimpeachably good thing," Hunt said. "I would have to fight really hard to find a reason not to do it."
It gets bigger every year, and this time around Thundergong! raised .. drum roll please … more than $1 million for Steps of Faith.
Friendship is infectious. All the things friends do for each other? They're doing for strangers.
"It's about hope, confidence, surviving, and thriving," said Brimblecom.
"To do something that you love with people you love, to help people you may never meet, I wish it on everyone," said Sudeikis.
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Story produced by Amol Mhatre. Editor: Lauren Barnello.
