Hello!

My name is Erica Robles. I am creating this Gofundme to help support my brother Nick Robles during a challenging time.

Nick got diagnosed with Leukemia. This diagnosis came out of the blue and he showed only two symptoms, neck pain and a gradual weight loss that we didn’t correlate to a symptom/sign of cancer. He went through ED visits, doctors appointments, a chiropractor, and physical therapy before he couldn’t stand the pain anymore. He was finally ordered an MRI through the Emergency Room on 6/21 and within 10 minutes of completing the MRI they sat him and Linda (his girlfriend/partner of 10 years) in a private room to tell him the very unfortunate news that they saw lesions throughout his cervical and thoracic spine that were highly suspicious for cancer. He underwent a bone marrow biopsy 6/23 and was told on 6/24 that he did in fact have Leukemia. 6/26 he met with his cancer team who specializes in Bone Marrow Transplant and was admitted to the hospital 6/27 to start his treatment. They believe it is Acute Myeloid Leukemia. His cancer team all have a lot of hope and encouragement that he will respond well and that they caught this early because all of his blood levels (WBC, RBC, and platelets) look good still. They also think that he has a very good chance of tolerating treatment because he doesn’t have any preexisting diseases, is a strong healthy young man and has a strong mindset. Another thing we learned is leukemia is not a stageable cancer. He will be in the hospital for at minimum 4 weeks with plans to start his chemotherapy on 6/28. His chemotherapy is a combination type of chemo 7-3 method. 7 days of continuous chemotherapy from one form of chemo, and another form of chemo for the first 3 days. After his initial treatment and follow up bone marrow biopsy they will determine how well he responded and possibly talk to him about a bone marrow transplant. This is all dependent off of his cancer genetics.

Nick is an extremely hard worker and is dedicated to his partner, Linda, and their 3 kids Junior (13), Ariz (10), and Madi (5). He is the most amazing father to his 3 children and they are going to miss him during this month long treatment! The cancer team said it would be very unlikely for the kids to see him during this month, but they would play it by ear and how he is responding to treatment + his side effects. Linda is faced with the responsibility of being the sole parent for the kiddos in the home, and also wanting to be there for Nick as well as working to help maintain their family. Thankfully Linda’s mother has made the selfless decision to move in with their family temporarily to assist with anything their family needs and to be a primary caretaker of the kids while Linda works and helps support Nick.

At this time, we are seeking spiritual, emotional, financial, and physical support for this family in any shape or form that you can offer.

PRAYERS

Please, if you are a religious person, PRAY! PRAY to our Jesus that Nick will be cured miraculously and medically. Pray for Nick to experience minimal symptoms and side effects related to the chemotherapy and being hospitalized for a month. Pray for his mental health and his mental strength to take on cancer and beat it completely! Pray for his physical strength and ability to maintain his strength. Pray for him to remain infection free as his blood levels (White blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets) drop as a result of the chemotherapy. Pray for Nicks body to accept this chemotherapy completely and to tolerate it to kill all the cancer in his body. Pray for the medical team caring for him: Doctors, nurses, lab techs, radiologists, ultrasound techs, physical therapists, social workers, case managers, and anyone else who will have a hand in his care. Pray that if he does need a bone marrow transplant we find a match quickly through family or friends or that a match already exists in the registry. Pray that his match donor remains healthy and generous to give this gift of life to another. Pray for Nicks family: Linda, Junior, Ariz, Madi, and Ollie. Pray to God to give them strength, courage, peace, and pray that they do not feel lonely during this time. Pray that they feel not only wrapped in Gods arms, but wrapped in love by their family. Pray that this hospital stay will be successful and that their family will be reunited soon. Pray that Linda is able to remain strong and healthy during this time so that she can be there to support Nick and the kids. Pray that her salon chair be filled with women needing assistance with their hair and that she can help make beautiful transformations with her skillful hands.

Emotional Support

If you are not a spiritual person, please send good vibes, healing energy, and positive thoughts and encouragement to Nick and Linda. I cannot explain how much positive thoughts and encouraging words or stories have helped in this short amount of time that we’ve been made aware of his diagnosis.

Physical Support

Nothing is set yet, but in the near future we are thinking of doing some food fundraising. If you are a close family member or friend and you are available when that time comes, and can help physically, we would appreciate it. We have thoughts of doing food fundraisers and so any help with making food and helping us sell it, post on social media, deliver, etc. would be greatly appreciated. More to come on this!! If you’re close with Nick and Linda and the kids, offering to help their family with distracting the kids, cleaning, shopping, etc. This obviously is preferable to closer immediate family and you can reach out to me personally if you are available to help.

Financial Support

While having lots of donations would be amazing, my goal is to offer this to people that have the means to donate and want to help in that form. Due to Nick not being able to work for 4 months to a year or more (Doctor said probably more likely a year), I want to get something started for them to help support them financially since they will be losing his income. Nick has only had hard labor/contractor type of careers, and so returning to something he has experience in will come with time after he is healed. His doctors have already said he cannot go back to his current job for at least a year due to the nature of his specific job responsibilities. He will be applying to disability, but this may be a process and not a guarantee he will get it. We want to support them as much as we can so that they can remain in their apartment and not experience too much change, especially for the kids. No donation is too small. $1 is even helpful. I’m not kidding!!

If you have it in your heart to donate, please do. Pray, send good vibes.

Nick has always been an amazing partner to Linda, father to his kids, son, brother, and friend. Nick has gone through so much adversity in his life and has always found a way to make things happen and to be successful with the cards he is dealt. He is one of the most self-less people anyone close to him has met. His home has always been a gathering place for family and friends. Their door has ALWAYS been open to others. Nick and Linda graciously accept people into their home and offer them love, support, food and laughs. We are DEVASTATED but at the same time, this diagnosis has reshaped our vision and hearts. We look forward to learning more about this disease, spreading awareness, and being a comfort to people in the future that might go through this. Nick is going to war with cancer, and there is not another option other than him coming out victorious.

ALL GLORY TO GOD! AMEN!

6/28 UPDATE:

Nick got his PICC yesterday. He’s been using the unit gym to maintain his strength while he’s in the hospital. Should be starting chemo today! All the nurses and staff are so kind and welcoming!