Father dying of brain tumor gets wish to do father-daughter dance

Charlie Kwentus knows that he won’t be around to dance with his two daughters at their weddings, but a local nonprofit is helping to grant this man his dying wish.

“I won’t be able to walk them down the aisle at their weddings,” Kwentus, 42, told KSDK. “But, yes, I will get this.”

Charlie was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 26, and he decided to stop treatment about two years ago.

“I just decided, and my family backed me on it, that it was time to quit. You know, quality verses quantity,” Kwentus said.

Since then Charlie and his family — his wife, Courtney Beers, and their two daughters, Maren and Zoe — have been getting in as much quality time together as possible, including a three-week road trip around the western United States.

“We feel like we’re building a bank of memories that will last a lifetime,” Beers told KSDK, “They have to last a lifetime.”

When they returned from their trip, Annie’s Hope, a local nonprofit organization that helps bereaved children, helped set up a night to remember for this family.

The charity provided all-star treatment for the day, including a black-tie makeover and a private dinner for the family. But the main event for the evening was the father-daughter dance. Charlie danced once with each of them to make up for not being able to dance with them at their weddings.

“We always talk about keeping me in their hearts. I am going to live on in their hearts,” he told the KSDK