Hello Everyone, 

I'm putting this fundraiser together for one of my dearest friends Deprise, her spouse Angel and their two beautiful daughters. 

This family is being faced with every obstacle that life can throw at you right now.

Angel has just recently been diagnosed with Stage 3 Cancer. In the beginning, it started as a small tumor that he was dealing with in private. Shortly after that initial doctor's visit, they diagnosed him with testicular cancer. When they sent him for endless testing and blood workups, the results were so much more overwhelming than expected. 

Angel has stage 3 cancer, beginning in his testicles, moving up to his abdomen, advancing into his chest, and settling in his lungs. He currently has over 100 nodules alone residing in both lungs at this time. But, unfortunately, that's not all he's facing. 



Although Angel is only 27 and is just truly beginning his life, he has been faced with a laundry list of incredibly serious medical problems over the last several years. On February 24, 2017, Angel underwent extensive brain surgery at RUSH Medical Center in Chicago for Chari Malformation. (A condition in which brain tissue extends into your spinal canal).  He spent 2 months off work to allow his body to try to heal back to a normal state.

Alongside his recent brain surgery, he found out that he was battling diabetes and would need to begin a life long regimen of medication to get it under control. However, with the difficulties of managing his blood sugar levels and the recent trauma to his head, his body had a hard time fighting to heal his wound, and the incision became infected.  On February 13, 2018 angel went back on the surgical table to remove the cyst that had grown excessively large due to the infection. 



Since then, Angel has been battling to live a healthy lifestyle, while managing his minor health illnesses that seem to continue to get worse.  Before the recent cancer diagnosis, before the Chari Malformation, before feeling sick constantly, he was a firefighter. He not only gave his focus and attention to his family but also his community. Angel has spent the last several years volunteering at his local house in Bureau when he's not taking the downtime to recover from surgery after surgery.  

This was his goal. He wanted to be someone who made a difference and he thought there was no better way to achieve that, then to help save lives.  
Until the day they found that his cancer had spread so rapidly through his chest and lungs. 



At his most recent doctor's visit, his specialist stated that he will have to have a port put in, and he will be starting his chemo treatments shortly.  They anticipated he would be doing 4 possibly 5 rounds of chemo, 5 days out of the week, with one week off to give his body a break between cycles.  He will need to take another 3-4 months minimum off work. More time will be expected if he has any complications or needs to do more rounds of chemo. 

Angel had been working a fulltime security position to help Deprise support their family, so at this time all of the financial responsibility will be falling on her shoulders. After finding out he will be needing to take off so much time from work, she immediately started working one full-time job and one part-time job to help fill the void. 

This family will have a father who will face some incredibly sick days ahead of him. A mother who is working one full-time job, one part-time job and contemplating working a third part-time job to cover the overwhelmingly high expenses and medical bills to come. And on top of all that two very young daughters caught in the middle watching all of the chaos unfold.