Update: Thanks everyone for your generous donations! As we have hit the GFM goal, all additional donations will allow Ian to consider other treatments and fund travel and lodging costs for Valencia.

If Ian has ever fed you sashimi expertly sliced with his numerous sushi knives, guided you through a complex sequence of yoga poses, given you a pack of his co-founded brand of Tochi Snacks, or taught you how to shuffle at a music festival… then you already know a core part of him as a person: that he lives life to the fullest every single day!

But there’s another part of him that threatens to take that all away: Ian has been fighting cancer since 2016, when he was diagnosed with GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumor) in his small intestines. Treatment was initially successful, but sadly the GIST recurred later in his liver. Surgery to remove it from his liver proved ineffective, and surgery is no longer viable.

He kept up the fight over the next 5 years with chemotherapy treatments, but grew resistant to each over time. There are no more FDA approved drugs that work, so he has participated in clinical trials and treatment outside of the standard of care which are thus not covered by insurance, costing him over US$150,000 so far. While Ian has managed to slow the progress of the cancer, he has now advanced to Stage 4, with cancer cells in 40% of his liver. If it reaches over 50%, he runs the risk of liver failure.

But there’s hope! Ian is exploring three treatments, including a new drug therapy in Valencia that has shown promise in halting or destroying cancer cells.

Here’s where you can help. Ian has not drawn a salary in the past 1.5 years to focus on his health, and while his family will support him on the other two treatments, he needs help funding the treatment in Valencia, which will cost US$75,000. Your support will go towards funding treatment over the course of 3 months, 5 days a week, at the Valencia clinic, including oral medicines, blood tests, biopsies, scans and a selection of drugs and supplements administered via IV that will help in the battle to stimulate his immune system and destroy the tumor cells.

Help Ian continue doing what he loves! He needs to keep spending too much time in snack and knife shops, keep schooling yoga teachers on their form, keep feeding his friends and family toro and uni, keep dancing to the music and so much more. Help keep Ian living life to the fullest!