Help Chris Battle Burkitt Lymphoma

My little brother Chris, a 27-year-old full of life and energy, the funniest person I know and the kindest of hearts, has been delivered an absolutely devastating blow: a Cancer diagnosis.

As a devoted American Express employee who worked hard to advance his career at such a young age, his life took an unexpected turn when he began to experience debilitating symptoms and sought emergency care. After only having image scans done of his abdomen, the doctors informed him it was likely stage 4 colon cancer. However after further testing, he was officially diagnosed with Burkitt Lymphoma, a rare and highly aggressive form of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

We went to Arizona to pack up all of his belongings and moved him back across the US home to New York, paying extra thousands to piece together some normalcy for my little brother during this crisis. Despite the difficulties, we were able to get Chris home for Christmas to spend some much-needed precious time together with our loved ones.

Having encountered extra difficulties with the blockage that had developed in his cecum preventing him from having additional colonoscopies, a sympathetic worker named Armando expedited the cancer cell tests and supplied tracking information, for which we are eternally grateful. With this, Chris began his 4-month intense chemotherapy.

Although initially showing hopeful results, we received further devastating news after his January 18th checkup and subsequent medical visit on January 20th. It was found that his cancer had not gone into remission. His next step is CAR T-Cell Therapy, a novel therapy that involves changing the genes within T cells to help doctors target cancer. For some people, this therapy may be beneficial in treating cancer, even after other treatments have failed. Unfortunately, since this treatment is new it may not be covered by insurance.

During these intense trying months, Chris has been unable to work and ended up losing his insurance. He did not have prescription coverage on his former insurance as he was only a young adult when he began working with the company, leaving him with unbearable medical costs. The medications alone for his cancer treatment are over $10,000.

This Gofundme page was created to assist in alleviating some of Chris's mounting medical expenditures not covered by insurance. Your contributions will go toward diagnostic tests, CT scans, PET scans, chemotherapy, and medicines for any chemotherapy side effects.

Any help, monetarily or in the form of sharing this website, would mean the world to us.

We want Chris to be able to concentrate on defeating cancer without having to worry about this ever-mounting medical debt. Your gift will assist in lifting this load and bring us one step closer to a day when Chris is illness free.

Thank you for your help. We simply can't imagine a life without Chris and can't do this alone.