Sorry to hear about your friend, it's hard to see someone you love going through that. He will love his new quilt.
I bought a kit just like that and started working on it this summer while at a retreat, I didn't get very far on it though, I found I really needed to concentrate on it, and a retreat isn't a good place for me to have to concentrate..lol
One of these days I need to get back to working on it, and when I do I hope mine turns out as nicely as your did!