On Christmas morning, following emergency surgery for complications from Stage 4 cancer, my husband, Mickey Boaglio, opened a framed watercolor of mountains painted by our youngest from his hospital bed. As soon as her dad received his diagnosis, Adiel and I began working to make mountains shaped like the letter “M” for Mickey, part of our collective effort to “move mountains” together (because no one fights cancer alone). She turned that first sketch into a Pacific Northwest watercolor featuring alpenglow, the soft pink light she says will always remind her of snowboarding trips in the mountains with her dad. In an effort to help him in a way we felt would help her as well, Adiel submitted the piece for silent auction in a fundraiser for Mickey, where my aunt, Charlotte Giles, won it and then graciously gifted it back to our family.

While Mickey was in the hospital recovering from emergency surgery over Christmas, our son Deegan, home from his freshman year of college at UW, had it framed, and we surprised Mickey with it on Christmas morning.

That painting now hangs in our home as a reminder of who we are in this season. Not alone. Mountains are being moved.

In October 2025, Mickey was diagnosed with Stage 4 mucinous signet-ring colorectal adenocarcinoma, which has infiltrated surrounding tissue rather than forming a contained mass, making surgical removal impossible. Since his diagnosis, this journey has included:

• Biweekly chemotherapy

• Emergency surgery for a perforated colon

• A two-week hospitalization over Christmas and New Year’s

• A permanent colostomy and mucus fistula

• Ongoing complications related to inflammation and tumor burden

• Continued treatment at Fred Hutch

He continues active treatment while we pursue integrative therapies alongside conventional oncology care to support his body through this fight. Now in spring 2026, as we look at the mountains ahead, we recognize this is not a short-term battle. Before all of this turned our lives upside down, we had been considering a move, and I had already given notice at work as part of my Clinical Mental Health Counseling Master’s program plan through Colorado Christian University. Since his diagnosis, there have been moments where I have debated stepping away from school, as it often simply feels like too much. Instead, we are choosing to reach out for support so that cancer does not take more from our family than it already has, and so we can continue pursuing the dreams we were building before this diagnosis.

Because of these combined realities, ongoing treatment, Mickey being solely on disability income, potential relocation, reduced income during clinical training, and the unpredictability of advanced cancer, we are opening this GoFundMe to help cover continued medical expenses, integrative therapies not covered by insurance, travel for treatment, ostomy and medical supplies, and living expenses as we face the mountains ahead and work to eliminate any stress we can.

Thank you for helping us move mountains. Cancer may have changed our path, but it does not get to define our future. We are not done climbing.

With love and gratitude,

Nikki & Mickey