The Aram Delgado Appeal

Hi, I'm Joe, the good looking one from The Fucktones.

First of all, please watch this video. A message from Aram himself:

As you probably know our beloved friend, Aram, AKA elguapo AKA Al Forno, is really, really fucking sick. Aram was receiving treatment for throat cancer for most of last year. He toughed it out it like a champ and we rejoiced in September when he finally got the all-clear, it was a huge fucking relief.

But the cancer came back. Aram's oncologist has told him he won't be able to beat it this time. The cancer has metastasised, it's everywhere. He is in incredible pain.

Aram is now in a hospice where he can be cared for 24/7, it's the best place for him so his pain medication can be properly managed. He is (obvs) not working, he has no income. Jenne is at the hospice with Aram, she has taken a leave of absence and once her paid leave runs out that income runs out too.

Aram and Jenne have a mortgage and bills to pay, just like the rest of us, and they need our help right now.

Some of us have already sent money through to Jenne via PayPal (Less fees to pay that way. Jennifer Street - paravionusATyahooDOTcom) but we know there are more of you out there who love and cherish this beautiful family and will be happy to help them in their time of need.

Please dig deep. Aram, Jenne, Eladio, we love you. x

From Jenne (his handsome wife):

If you have met Aram, spent any amount of time around him, you either love him or were scared he'd be a Big Meanie. Behind the Resting Bastard Face is a very deep, sensitive, thinking, caring soul. A study in dichotomies. A man who needs to know that he is able to have control over his interface with the world around him and who questions everything about the world around him at all times. A man who wants the best for everyone and who wonders why humans still exist, if all we are going to do is destroy ourselves and the planet.

A man who loves music, in almost all forms (sorry, Cake, you don't make the cut - AT ALL) and who will drive you absolutely batty insisting that, actually, you can't have X opinion about X genre of music, because "have you listened to everything ever made?" Same for pie. How can you say you don't like pie? You can't possibly have tasted every pie in the world.

Curiosity, hyperfocus, intensity - Aram Delgado in a nutshell. Always upset about all the things he won't get to read about, learn about, listen to, experience before he dies - even when we thought dying would come much, much later on.

The original scans taken in April 2023, from his head to his pelvis, showed no disease except in the throat. After what was thought to be successful treatment for this cancer over six weeks in May and June 2023, he developed what was originally thought to be sciatica in October 2023. This moved quickly, and by November 2023, cancer was discovered in two places in his spine as well as his liver. By December 2023, it was considered pervasive, also now heavily prevalent in his bone marrow. The oncologist was surprised, as throat cancers almost never metastesise down, and his metasteses were seen to be unusually aggressive as well.

It is now Christmas Day 2023, and Aram is in hospice care at the absolutely wonderful St Julia's, in Hayle. He initially entered hospice with the goal of symptom management, expected to return home once his pain was able to be controlled. However, his disease is progressing at a rate that no one expected, and he is no longer expected to leave hospice.

I am losing my husband much too early. Our son is losing his daddy much too early (E is only 9 years old). Aside from the shocking pain of this, we will soon be met by financial difficulties we expected to have time to plan for. We had hoped to be able to set our son up with a bit of a financial cushion so that he could attend university without the crippling debt we both (still) have from our own university educations over 20 years ago. I am scared about my ability to afford our mortgage on one salary, as I am unable to work full time and also provide the support that our son will need soon.

In addition to this, Aram has felt so supported by the NHS - the Sunshine Centre and the Headland Unit at Royal Conrwall Hospital Treliske and St Julia's Hospice. I would like to be able to earmark 10% of the money raised to donate, which can be used to further support the work StJulia's is doing. Only 17% of their budget comes from the NHS, the rest secured through fundraising.

From David Kamp, author of Sunny Days:

Proof that the internet is sometimes actually a nice place: it’s where I met Aram Delgado. Aram is the delightful son of Emilio Delgado, a.k.a. Luis on Sesame Street. Emilio and I became friends when I was writing Sunny Days, a history of children’s television. While hustling the book in 2020 with Emilio’s enthusiastic help, I got a note from a friend, via Facebook, that he knew Emilio’s boy Aram and thought that we would hit it off. It was a fair assumption, given that Aram and I were generational contemporaries, self-aware rock snobs, and massive Emilio Delgado fans. Needless to say, Aram and I did indeed hit it off. Sadly, the first time we met in person was at Emilio’s memorial early in 2022, after cancer quickly and surprisingly took the robust Emilio from us.

I’m sorry to say that cancer has now quickly and surprisingly come after Aram. He is in hospice care at St. Julia’s in Hayle, England, and is, to be blunt, not long for this world. Aram’s wife, Jenne, is launching a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to ease the financial burden, and, crucially, for a trust to be held in the name of their young son, Eladio. The Delgados will also earmark some of the money raised for St. Julia’s, where Aram is receiving extraordinarily compassionate care. If you can afford to give something, please do—it will be benefit a wonderful family and a boy who, alas, won’t get to see his dad grow old.

Aram has narrated his harrowing cancer ordeal with admirable candor and wit over Facebook and via personal messages. But he doesn’t want his illness to define him. So if you give, please do so in the name of a father and husband who literally and figuratively grew up on Sesame Street and lived his life according to its ideals.

From Sonia Manzano, Maria on Sesame Street:

Tragedies come in waves. Many of you know that my friend and co-worker Emilio Delgado passed on March 10th., 2023. This loss was profoundly felt by the Sesame Street family. Now I’ve come to know that his fifty-four-year old son, Aram Delgado is in hospice. Monetary relief helps us process sorrow or misgivings in peace. I ask you to donate what you can.