POULSBO — “A hero doesn’t have to be somebody that saves the world. They take a stand to make a difference. We all can be heroes,” artist Jeffrey Veregge said.

Veregge, the Port Gamble S’Klallam graphic artist is working to help a family in need by creating 100 limited-edition prints to be sold at the Olympic Collectible Expo from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 1 at the Silverdale Beach Hotel.

The prints, on sale for a $20 donation, will help pay a local family’s medical expenses.

Last year, Jon Watson went to his dentist for a toothache. His life soon took a dramatic turn.

Watson, 39, a single father of two teenage daughters, was diagnosed with Stage IV squamous cell carcinoma. Two weeks after his diagnosis, he had a 17-hour surgery at Harborview before starting chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

The surgery involved the removal of part of Watson’s cheek, teeth and 32 lymphnodes. Facial reconstruction was also performed.

After almost three weeks of recovery, including seven days in the ICU, Watson was sent home to prepare for chemotherapy treatments.

Watson then began suffering from kidney failure, forcing him to stay in the hospital for an additional three weeks. He was unable to have his final chemo treatment, as chemo was the cause of the kidney failure.

By December 2015, Watson had lost 100 pounds and was prepped for dialysis five times. He’s lost nine and a half months of work from his illness. In that time, he’s made more than 60 trips from Bremerton to the University of Washington Medical Center main campus and has been hospitalized six times.

Watson is set to begin dialysis to help control his kidney function. Although he is in desperate need of a kidney transplant, he is unable to have the operation for five years because of the effects of chemo.

Meanwhile, Watson’s 63-year-old mother (who has lived with the family for several years) was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. And Watson’s medical bills are up to $30,000.

Veregge saw the opportunity to help.

“Our son is friends with Jon’s daughter,” he said. “I kept seeing their [social media] posts and it kept breaking my heart. I don’t have a lot of money, but I have a talent and I thought if I could help it might be a great way to do that.”

The Marvel comic book artist, who specializes in what he calls “Coast Salish geek,” wants to give back to the community that has always supported him. He hopes this will be one of many opportunities to use his talents to help those in need.

“You can’t work in the hero industry without taking a stand and helping people when they need it,” he said. “It’s where I came from … on my reservation in my community of Little Boston we do whatever a family needs if they need help. I’m just doing like how I was raised in Port Gamble, Little Boston. This is about me trying to use whatever I have to help these people. This is for Jon and his family.”

Even local businesses, BlueSky Printing in Poulsbo and the Olympic Collectible Expo, are contributing what they can for the family.

Loren Brown, owner of BlueSky Printing, has offered to print the 100 specialty prints at no cost to the artist, to help ensure a 100 percent profit to the family in need.

The Olympic Collectible Expo, run by Ron Dumpit, has offered Veregge a free table by the main entrance to showcase the prints.

“Everybody is donating something for this cause,” Veregge said.

Veregge said his younger son, Preston, helped bring attention to the Watson family.

“I’ve known my friend Courtney since the seventh grade. We’ve had a few classes together and we’ve talked a lot,” Preston said. “She told me about her dad, and it was just heartbreaking to hear. Her dad is such an inspiration on her. Her dad has always been there caring for her. It’s been really hard on her.”

Veregge will sign his prints at the event. “I wanted to give them something new that they can’t get everywhere else. I wanted to do something special,” he said.

The three-color, limited edition print is said to have much more movement than his earlier renditions of the most iconic Marvel character.

“I was trying to think of ways to maximize profit for this family,” Veregge said. “I wanted to take a character everybody liked and associated with that generated the most income for these people, everything is intentional.”

He hopes this print will serve as a constant reminder to those who supported Jon that good always overcomes evil in the end.

“There’s got to be people to do random acts of goodness instead of random acts of evil,”  Veregge said. “People, environment, animals … if we all just picked one thing, we can live up the potential I think we all have within us. If we all take a moment to think about things that don’t necessarily affect us, but our friends and families, we can give them planet, and especially our country, something that desperately needs nowadays.”

Watson is scheduled to meet with his oncologist on Oct. 13 to determine the next step for his treatment.

“Please, let’s give this family a well-deserved helping hand and bring some much needed joy and smiles into their lives,” Veregge said.