Help Nick’s Family With His Fight Against Cancer

21Feb2023 Update:

After a courageous battle, it is with great sadness that on 19Feb2023 Nick was called home. He was surrounded by his family in a peaceful transition. Although many of the plans that he and Natalie had to make in order to ensure their home was suitable for their new reality will no longer come to fruition, she will need our help more than ever. This new road for Drew, Brie, Natalie and his entire family will be a difficult one, but not one they will walk down alone. As many of his friends and family have already stated, Nick was a one-of-a-kind person and a light to everyone who has been blessed to be a part of his life. Nick will live on through Natalie, his children Drew and Brie, his family and his friends. Losing a spouse, a parent or a child is hard enough....as their extended network, it's up to us to help ensure Natalie, Drew and Brie have little to no more disruptions or worries, allowing them to grieve this great loss. Please consider donating whatever you can.

Matt

Our time is precious, and we never truly know how much we have left.

Over the past two years, Nick Trumpikas has been dealing with a condition that causes schwannomas (typically non-cancerous tumors) in various parts of his body. One of these schwannomas has severely limited the use of his right arm and hand. Since 2020, Nick and Natalie have been going back and forth to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore trying to get answers as to what exactly was going on with his body. After many, many tests and appointments doctors were able to locate cancer in his pelvis and immediately began chemotherapy treatments. Doctors were still uncertain as to why his PET scans were presenting as cancer in other areas, but the biopsies were all negative. It wasn’t until a trip to Sloan Kettering in NYC, in December of 2022, that Nick got his answer. The schwannomas were in fact cancerous tumors called malignant schwannomas. Malignant schwannomas are extremely rare and typically don’t respond well to treatments. The decision was to continue chemotherapy treatment in hopes the cancer would somehow respond. Unfortunately, the cancer did not respond as they had hoped, and Nick and his family were left with many more questions and a path to push forward and find a way to help meet his ever-growing needs. Currently, Nick has several tests and many more appointments with doctors at Sloan Kettering so that he and his family are better able to understand what other options are available and make the best decisions for his care moving forward.

On a more personal note, anyone you talk to about Nick offers the same thought: he’s the nicest most down-to-earth person they know, which makes the situation that much more difficult. Nick’s an extremely talented person: he was a great high school soccer player, built his own computer, rebuilds motorcycles, is an amazing golfer and is a home beer brewer. He’s the best friend you can have as well as being an amazing son, brother, nephew, cousin, and uncle. But more than any of those things he’s a wonderful father to Drew & Brie and husband to Natalie. Nick is the ultimate family man; nothing is more important. He and Natalie moved back to the area just to be closer to their families, building their dream home next to his parents. He’s always known that time with family is the most important.

Some of Nick’s friends have been friends with him since they were children (kindergarten for some of us), we are not just friends, we’re family. Even so, you almost forget what life was like before “Nick and Natalie.” They met at a party at Penn State and have been a constant for almost 20 years. They built the life they dreamed of, especially when it comes to Drew and Brie.

Nick will help anyone at any time and now it’s our turn to help him. He and Natalie will need to continue their trips to Sloan which will require time away from work and most of all, time away from family. In addition, they will likely need to make some major changes to their home so he can get upstairs and out of the house. Medical costs continue to mount, the changes to their home will not be inexpensive and the lost wages will put an additional burden on their family. This is something we can help with. Nick and Natalie are not alone in his increasingly difficult fight; his friends and family will continue to be by their side through it all.

Anything you can contribute to this beautiful family would be greatly appreciated.