In March, my friend Bryon Thompson was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor.

Bryon, a 47-year-old married father of two adolescent children, has made his living as a freelance illustrator for some of the country’s biggest publications and companies, including the Wall Street Journal, Maxim, Disney and Citibank for 18 years.

And he has accomplished many of these flashy tasks in the bucolic setting of suburban Leo-Cedarville.

In his free time, he paints (acrylic on wood) and composes intricate yet accessible instrumental guitar music.

There will be an all-ages benefit to help Bryon and his family with the cost of his treatment from 1 to 7 p.m. July 31 at Pro Bowl West on Goshen Road. It’s called “Bowling for Bryon” and it is being organized by Bryon’s friend Jonathan Durnell.

Bowling for Bryon will involve bowling, of course, plus live bands (including Good Night Gracie), raffles, giveaways, a silent auction and euchre and cornhole tournaments.

One of the prizes is an entire office suite, Durnell said.

Lanes can be reserved by contacting Durnell at jdurnell@comcast.net or through a “Bowling for Bryon” Facebook page.

Durnell said that if all 50 bowling slots are filled, Pro Bowl West will close the place to the general public.

Bryon has always been a private, easygoing and self-reliant sort of person who hates to have a fuss made over him, so Durnell’s efforts on his behalf took some getting used to.

“(This benefit) has just been growing and growing and growing,” he said. “I said to Jonathan, ‘I don’t know. This is getting kind of big.’ And he said, ‘That’s the idea.’

“I have always been a low-key guy,” Bryon said. “I have been a little bit uncomfortable letting other people help. But I have been learning to put things in other people’s hands.”

Bryon said there is always a lot of “content” to process when medical news of this sort first arrives, and that includes forgivably awkward expressions of sympathy and offers of assistance from people like me who don’t quite know what to say and how to say it.

When I said to him, “I can’t possibly know what you are going through right now,” his reply was, “No, you can’t.”

He wasn’t being testy or reproachful.

He was imparting a hard-learned statement of fact.

The adage “attitude is everything” as it relates to cancer treatment is not just offhand advice, Bryon said. It is germane to the healing process.

“At first you end up in a black hole,” he said, “And as you work your way out of the black hole, you realize that you have to be extremely vigilant about what you let in … and what you let out, I guess.”

Bryon said he is choosing to look at this cancer as a temporary setback and is trying to live as normal as life as possible.

“Normal is good,” he said.

Normal for Bryon is exercising his creativity in myriad directions, including musical.

I have long been a fan of Bryon’s guitar-based music, all of which features Bryon on multiple acoustic and electronic instruments and none of which has ever been performed publicly.

“I don’t think it is in my nature,” he said of live performance. “I never had the gift of gab.”

Bryon said he envies performers like Leo Kottke, who regale audiences with hilarious stories between exquisitely performed songs.

“I would hate to let anyone down,” he said.

Asked why he doesn’t sing, Bryon employed a version of Kottke’s standard answer whenever he hears a similar question.

“Because my voice sounds like a flock of farting geese,” he said.

Bryon’s four full-length CDs and an EP are available through CDBaby and iTunes, but a fine central portal for his music can be found at www.bthompson.net/cd.

Students of music history might hear echoes of prog-rock, surf rock, jazz fusion, folk and jam band music in Bryon’s instrumentals.

Most listeners will find Bryon’s music to be evocative, catchy and easy on the ears.

Bryon said he believes music should have “strong melodies that you carry with you long after you have stopped listening.”

The high point in Bryon’s guitar-playing sideline came in 2003 when he was written up in 20th Century Guitar magazine.

When he received his copy of the issue in the mail, Bryon was surprised to learn that he shared the cover with his idol, Steve Howe of the band Yes.

“I had no idea Steve was even in it,” Bryon said.

A less ostentatious milestone came when one of Bryon’s compositions was licensed for a “technical video for a refrigeration unit,” he said.

“I didn’t care,” he said of the utilitarian context in which his composition was used. “I was excited.”

Bryon’s proudest artistic accomplishment, he said, was covering the Fleetwood Mac song, “Sunny Side of Heaven,” on his 2007 CD “Starting Now.” He said it’s a song that made him think differently about what a guitar can do.

Bryon said he has recorded enough snippets to build into another EP and he may soon sit in with Jim Bordner’s band, flouting his longtime prohibition against live performance.

“I figured I have spent enough time trying selfishly to be the ‘Todd Rundgren of Fort Wayne,’ ” he said, referring to that notoriously autonomous musician and producer.

For the time being, music-making is taking a back seat to painting, Bryon said.

“Right now,” he said, “I am pouring everything into painting. Every morning, whether I want to do it or not, I just do it.”

Lest he forget to pick up his brushes first thing in the morning, Bryon said his daughter Madison leaves Post-It Notes on his computer that say, “Dad, don’t forget to paint today.”

Bryon said his kids have been handling his illness “amazingly well.”

“I am always apologizing to them because I am not allowed to do certain things,” he said. “And they always say, ‘It’s OK, Dad.’ ”

Bryon said his son Landon is a ball of energy.

“It is natural to be uplifted being around him,” he said.

And Bryon’s wife, Marva, is “the rock,” he said.

“She’s the med police,” he said. “She makes sure I take everything I am supposed to take when I am supposed to take it.

“When the bills come,” Bryon said, “she looks at everything first so I don’t freak out.”

Bryon said he is willing himself to focus on the positive.

“I have been collecting success stories,” he said. “There is nothing that is more inspiring to me than when someone has a clean scan. Whenever I hear a story about a clean scan, I think, ‘My turn next.’ ”