Tharinger "overwhelmed" by surprise support project

Peninsula News Network

2/2/05

Clallam County, WA - Clallam County Commissioner Steve Tharinger says he’s still overwhelmed by the unexpected delivery of more than a thousand paper cranes his friends as a token of support as he makes progress in his fight against cancer.

A huge group of people gathered last Friday night in Sequim to fashion hundreds and hundreds of paper origami cranes to as a token of encouragement for the East End commissioner, who was diagnosed with lymphoma last fall.

These 90 friends and political supporters had all been summoned quietly through email invitations, forming a virtual army that cranked out 1000 cranes in a little over 2 hours worth of work. Then all the cranes were assembled on a bicycle wheel into a colorful mobile and delivered with a surprise visit to Tharinger and his wife.

Tharinger says it was “overwhelming” and “way cool” to see all those friends show up with such a remarkable gift. He said it was very “emotionally uplifting” and is still “unbelievable” several days later. Tharinger says the mobile has been hung in the front hall at his house and the experience has been “very positive”. Tharinger says some of the cranes were even made ahead of time by county employees, and other friends from around the country who heard about the effort and sent some cranes to be part of the project. He wanted us to pass along his deepest thanks for everyone that helped out.

Tharinger had his last chemotherapy treatment Wednesday and tells PNN he’s feeling very good, and much better than he did last fall. He still has some tests and follow up visits, but should know how he’s fared against the disease by the end of the month. Tharinger has been able to continue his duties as commissioners throughout the treatment period.