David Encinas Memorial Fund

Dear Family and Friends, 

Our family has created this page to help support the current and future financial needs of our brother David’s family. All the funds raised here will directly benefit his wife Jeanna, 2 year old son Nico, and 3 week old daughter Danica. These funds will help alleviate medical bills and any loss of income that has accumulated over the past several months as well as those that may occur in the near future.

First and foremost David was a devoted husband and father who worked hard to provide a good life for his family. This year David and Jeanna celebrated 20 years of love. He was so happy and felt complete having her as his wife. As a father, David adored and was enamored by his son, Nico. David was a great son, loving brother, and an amazing friend to many. He had the best sense of humor and was so witty. As basketball coach, David was patient, calculated, and appreciated all of his players. He was a tremendous coach, winning multiple league championships at both Nogales High School and Walnut High School. Basketball was his passion and he dedicated over 20 years to mentoring, developing, and teaching his players how to be successful athletes and even better men. Many of his players turned into life-long friends. 

This year started out as normal as anyone would expect for David and Jeanna. They were both working, enjoying time together raising their son, and eagerly anticipating the arrival of their sweet baby girl. 

On February 17, the beginning of our worst nightmare started to unfold. David went to the ER for side pain and a fever. The doctors found a mass on his left kidney and referred him to a urologist. What was thought to have been a small growth turned out to be an enormous tumor that had not only consumed his left kidney, but had also presented as nodules on his lung. In less than two days, David and Jeanna’s focus shifted from attending their upcoming baby shower to preparing to battle Sarcomatoid Renal Cell Carcinoma: Stage Four Kidney Cancer. David had the most aggressive type of cancer cells rapidly growing inside of him. The prognosis was grim, but David was determined to fight. 

The weeks to follow were agonizing. Pain quickly escalated from a slight side ache to extreme debilitating pain, the worst pain David had ever experienced. Surgery was a month away and for David the remaining weeks would consist of little to no sleep, poor pain management, and several trips to the ER. Our hearts broke for our brother. We were helpless and David was at the mercy of the cancer growing inside of him. 

On March 18, David finally had his surgery to remove the tumor. What we thought would be 5 days of recovery in the hospital turned into 2 months of a difficult hospital ordeal. Surgery brought on numerous complications which meant more pain and torment for David. During surgery, the doctors found that the cancer had spread further. They had to remove his spleen, some lymph nodes, and part of his colon in addition to the tumor and left kidney. 

David spent the majority of the next two months in the hospital, in and out of the ICU and moving around to different floors of the hospital. He dealt with infections, blood pressure and heart rate issues, blood clots, and pancreatitis among other things. March 23rd, David’s 40th birthday, was spent in the ICU fighting for his life. He was dealing with kidney failure of his other kidney and was going into septic shock. He was intubated, sedated, and required immediate dialysis. Due to the current pandemic, hospital visitations were restricted and our family was not allowed to physically be with David. He had to fight alone with encouragement only from texts and phone calls. This was as difficult for our family as it was for David.

David fought hard to make progress with his recovery so that he could come home and begin the fight against the cancer with immunotherapy. He was able to come home on the evening of April 24th. The following day, Jeanna gave birth to their daughter, Danica Jaymes Encinas. Jeanna and Danica returned home shortly thereafter and the family of four was able to be together for the first and last time. David was able to meet his daughter and my mom and I saw first-hand the love and joy she brought to his heart. The next day, David had to be rushed back to the hospital and the following two weeks unveiled the aggressive cancer had spread to his liver and was causing further complications.

On the evening of May 15 David passed away peacefully with his faithful wife Jeanna, and younger brothers Chris and Kevin by his side. We held his hands, prayed for his comfort, and assured him everyone’s love for him was boundless. With every bit of strength in him David spoke the words “I Love You” to Jeanna. We stood by him as he took his last breath and was freed from the pain and suffering.

Even in David’s passing he inspired his family to strive for bigger and better things in their lives. David was fearless. He fought hard and never wavered. He showed us all what it meant to be brave and relentless. We will never forget the courage and strength he instilled in all of us. We are forever proud of our beloved David.

On behalf of Jeanna, Nico, Danica, and the entire Encinas family, we want to thank everyone for your continued prayers and support during this difficult time. Words cannot express the pain we are experiencing. Your kindness and compassion for David and our families has been instrumental in pushing us forward. 

We never in our lives thought we would be creating a crowdfunding page for this family. Those of us close to David and Jeanna know that they often give without expectation of anything in return. They give because they love to serve others with hearts of compassion.  Please help us support this family who in a typical season are the ones giving, supporting, and serving others.

Thank you for your donation of love.