Francisco's DIPG Cancer Journey

Update from Laura: Our dear Francisco passed away in the early hours of December 5th, 2024, just a few days after his ninth birthday. Many people have asked to help us with funeral costs and/or the incurred debt from the life adjustments needed throughout Francisco’s cancer battle, and we are tremendously grateful for those offers. We are reactivating our GoFundMe page for that purpose. You can also send a donation directly to us through Venmo (@lauralf26), PayPal (also @lauralf26) or through a check (for our physical address, please reach out to us directly). We are so, so very grateful. I will write a proper update very soon. God bless you all ❤️

2023 Message from Laura: Our sweet Francisco is 7 years old and was diagnosed with an aggressive terminal brain cancer, DIPG, at the end of May 2023. We found out about his diagnosis only 5 days after learning that we were expecting surprise twins after having had 3 pregnancy losses in the past. Since then, we’ve been navigating our new normal - having our hearts filled with so much joy, at the same time that they break to pieces.

But our sweet Francisco has been tremendously blessed with a wonderful outlook of both life and death. He’s faced his terminal cancer diagnosis with inquisitiveness and humor. He always has questions, and loves joking about the fun things he’ll get to do when he is in Heaven, and how he’ll be closely watching over little sister Mariana (3yo) and his twin brothers. His perspective is beautiful and feels like a balm on the hearts of us that love him, but it feels equally painful to know he’s facing this terminal disease.

For now, we are living our life as fully as we can, giving him as much love as our hearts can give, and working with a wonderful team of doctors and nurses to care for Francisco’s health. We have also been shown an indescribable amount of support and care from our friends, family and community, and it is because of their encouragement that we now feel somewhat more comfortable receiving a little more help.

This diagnosis has completely changed our lives, especially when going through it at the same time that I find myself going through a very high risk pregnancy. Due to my pregnancy, I had to stop working just about a month into Francisco’s diagnosis. Francisco’s dad, Ryan, will be adding another year to his full time doctoral program, as both Francisco’s medical journey and now my pregnancy require him to be very present at home and at appointments. We’re also looking at needing to make modifications to our home both as we prepare for Francisco’s future health decline, as well as the arrival of our twins at the end of the year. Added to all that, we have the expense of afternoon childcare for our 3yo, as well as trips to and from the hospital, both in Fairfax, VA as well as Children’s National Hospital in DC. It is all slowly starting to take a financial toll on our family, and we know it will be even greater in the future, so we humbly wanted to extend a request for help.

Above any financial help, though, we wanted to please keep asking you all for prayers. This isn’t a path any parent would ever even think of being on, but it is the path that we are called to walk down in this life. It is a path filled with beauty and love, but also with the most intense kind of pain we ever thought we could experience. Francisco, however, is our biggest inspiration - he is so loved, and we are blessed to have him, for however long God wants us to care for him on earth.

So thank you all for everything! Even just with your thoughts, your love and your prayers, you give us more than enough. We are lucky to have the tremendously supportive community that we have, and to truly feel all your love every single day. God bless you all, and if you are a parent, always hug your little ones tightly and love on them without measure ❤️

— Laura

About DIPG:

Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) is an inoperable cancerous brain tumor, and it has no cure. This cancer is most commonly diagnosed in children ages 6-9 (though it can still happen in younger and older kids, even in some adults). Patients are normally given 9-12 months left to live from the time of diagnosis. This is one of the cruelest cancers, which affects children’s motor skills while leaving their cognitive skills intact. This means that at the end of the journey, while the child won’t be able to walk, talk, move, eat, breathe…they are still completely aware of everything that’s happening to them. Only 0.0005% of the yearly national funding for cancer research (which was 7+ billion dollars in 2023) goes to childhood brain cancer. DIPG has been known for 100 years, but due to lack of funding, a cure is nowhere near being found.