Here with 2026 updates:

Hi Everyone! It's been one year since his diagnosis and I wanted to provide you with the latest update. He started 2025 on a chemo treatment called Folfox that was very effective. It reduced the spread of the disease by about 80 percent. One of the ways that this is measured is through a monthly carcinoembryonic (CEA) blood test that calculates the level of proteins found in certain cancers. A “normal” level is a score of 3 or less. A slightly elevated score is anything between 3 and 10. Anything over 20 is high and a sign that the disease is spreading. When Nolan started chemo last January his score was 65.3! By the month of May the score was down to 5.16! Although Folfox was effective, one of its side effects is nerve damage called Neuropathy that causes tingling and numbness in your fingertips and toes. Nolan began suffering from this. The doctor wanted to prevent further damage so the treatment was changed to Folfiri that does not cause Neuropathy. The new treatment continued to be effective and the CEA blood test level remained stable in the 5 range until October. This is when Nolan began to feel more pain. His CEA test score also started to rise again. By the end of 2025, the score was up to 9.82. This signaled that Folfiri was no longer working effectively. The doctor recommended switching back to Folfox. Nolan started on Folfox again this month. We are hoping it is still effective in reducing the disease like before.

Unfortunately, Nolan has also had other chemotherapy and cancer related symptoms increase. Most of it consists of abdominal pain and lower digestive issues that don’t allow him to do some of normal daily routines and he is also very exhausted. One year of chemo has taken its toll on him and now he gets very sick on the day he gets the infusion. This last chemo infusion was the toughest one yet and our compadres ended up having to pick him up from the hospital and drive him home. Nolan has often declined for me to get a schedule of having company meanwhile he sits getting treated, but he is no longer in the position to drive back home after treatment now.

I would also like to share that through his network of friends, Nolan has been connected to a doctor that specializes in cancer immunotherapy treatment that could be a gamechanger in his battle against cancer. We are excited about the possibilities this treatment may offer and promise to keep you posted on this.

We are also working on getting on the healthy eating bandwagon again since the holidays really deterred us from this. He is also looking into starting up all the holistic treatments again. We would also appreciate any shares of his gofundme link to help him financially as these are not covered and very expensive. As always, no pressure at all in providing any of this! Your support, encouraging words, and visits are enough.

Much love and many thank you's!

Ligia, Nolan, and Santi

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Hello Friends and Family,

My name is Ligia and many of you may know me as Santi’s mom, Nolan’s wife, Luis and Karla’s sister-in-law or Luis and Maria’s daughter-in-law. I am writing today with both a heavy heart and incredible hope. Nolan is facing a challenging medical situation that requires urgent treatment.

Late last year, he was diagnosed with cancer. To provide a little background, he had his annual physical check-up with his doctor in November of 2024 where he communicated that he had been feeling some discomfort in his abdomen that seemed unusual.

Unable to determine what he was dealing with, his doctor scheduled a CT Scan to see if anything could be discovered. Unfortunately for him, the scan came back abnormal. The day before Thanksgiving last year, Nolan received a phone call from his doctor to inform him that he appeared to have cancer. After a series of tests and procedures throughout the month of December, the cancer diagnosis was confirmed. He has stage four Adenocarcinoma that originated in his Appendix and spread to his peritoneum (abdominal wall) and lungs.

The doctors have told us that his cancer is aggressive and his tumors are high grade. They have told us it is not curable. We are not interested in knowing the life expectancy of Nolan’s illness. He is here and I am not going to prepare for a widow's life...NO WAY! We only care about trying to beat this thing and show cancer that there is no space for it here in our family. So immediate treatment plan is chemotherapy, at City of Hope, with a goal of reducing the presence of the disease and control it. On our end he is eating healthy and thinking positive.

We are sharing all this because as many of you may know, Chemotherapy is very expensive. To date Nolan has completed seven infusion cycles and has at least two more cycles already scheduled. Unfortunately, his insurance only covers a part of it. His medical expenses have risen to more than $20k in just three months. For those of you that have already contributed to support Nolan, THANK YOU, we will forever be grateful. Any contribution, no matter how small, will help cover necessary costs associated with his treatment. You can donate here or directly via Venmo/Zelle. Thank you for your time, compassion, and consideration. Your support will mean the world to Nolan, myself and Santiago during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

Ligia, Nolan, and Santi