Our friend Cesar was recently diagnosed with AML ( acute myeloid leukemia) after a visit to the doctor for a low-grade fever, nausea and fatigue last Friday- May 19th. Because this type of cancer progresses rapidly, he was admitted to the hospital directly from the emergency room and has begun treatment. As you can imagine, this has had a huge impact on him and his family. While trying to cope with and process the diagnosis, Cesar ( as the primary breadwinner) is also worried about being unable to work and provide for his wife and kids. He is in the process of applying for disability, but we don’t know if the money will be enough to cover all of their expenses. Since everything has been so sudden, we are not sure about the amount of any medical bills as of yet.

The money raised at this time is to help alleviate some of the stress about rent and bills for Cesar and his wife Kim, so Cesar can focus on treatment for the cancer and Kim can focus on taking care of him and their two kids. Cesar is such a generous and giving person and would be the first to help out if someone else was in a similar situation. If you feel compelled, please donate to help support this sweet family during this time of stress and uncertainty.

Thank you!

Below is a more detailed update from Kim:

Since May 10th, Cesar had been home from work with an injured back. On Mother’s Day, he started feeling ill with a low-grade fever, nausea and fatigue. He finally was able to get into an appt on Friday at 2 pm and got some lab work done. We received a call around 5:30 pm that his blood work had come back with an abnormally high white blood count and that he needed to go to the ER immediately. Once we arrived, we were met with a team of Hemotologist, Oncologist and Nurses. They took a bone marrow biopsy and put a vascular catheter in his neck so they can treat him for Acute Leukemia. He was given a mild chemo medication called Hydria. On Saturday he began Leukopheresis which is a procedure where they extract the blood and filter out the white cells and then return the blood. They also follow up with a blood transfusion. His white blood cell numbers came down a bit but not enough so they repeated the same procedure on Saturday. His white blood count crept up a small amount so they are deciding whether or not they will repeat this procedure or start chemo immediately.