Help Mr. A Fight Cancer!

Co-organized

Christian Arrigoitia and Esther Arrigoitia are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of William Arrigoitia.

Donation protected

Hello! My name is Christian Arrigoitia. My sister Esther and I have set this up on behalf of our dad, Steven Arrigoitia, or as most of you know him, Mr. A.

Our dad has been a middle school teacher in Lyndhurst for almost 15 years as the Special Education Language Arts teacher, the director of the musical since 2012, and pioneer of the fall play beginning in 2021. This past May he was awarded the Jo Anne Fox Theater Teacher of the Year award, given to a director for being “an inspiration to their students, whose passion for theatre is infectious, and who creates a community, a loving extended family in their school in the process of producing high quality productions.” Anyone who’s met Mr. A knows that his passion for the arts, as well as sharing them with his students, is inspirationally palpable.

Four months ago, in the midst of rehearsals for the spring musical, our father’s health began suddenly declining. Despite his concerning and rapidly worsening symptoms, he was adamant on waiting to address his health, insistent on showing up for his students through the final rehearsals and opening night of Disney’s Descendants at Lyndhurst Middle School. He pushed through as long as he could, but unfortunately my sister and I had to rush him to the hospital on April 4th, where he was immediately admitted and would spend the next two weeks.

After many doctors, tests, and specialists, our dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon cancer and Stage 3 heart failure. The doctors have since told us that it’s a miracle he is still alive, and we still don’t know how much time we have left with him.

He has been undergoing chemo treatments and frequent appointments with various specialists, but has still maintained his bright spirits! He is very excited to be cleared to return to teaching and directing this fall.

However, due to the out of pocket cost of the surgeries and all other medical expenses, our savings have been depleted. Thanks to his doctors and the treatment he has received thus far, he is drastically improving, but he still needs multiple procedures that insurance won’t cover that will greatly reduce his pain levels and the efficacy of his future treatments. Creating a Gofundme is one of the last things we ever thought we’d do, but our dad deserves a higher quality of life than we can currently afford, so we are humbly seeking help from the community that our dad has spent the majority of our lives investing in. We want nothing more than to continue dancing bachata with him and proudly watching his shows from the audience of Lyndhurst MIddle School.

Please help us make sure he can keep dancing and directing until his final curtain call.