Help Daniel Chia and his family through his cancer battle

Dear friends and family. My name is Lawrence Chia, and I am launching this GoFundMe to help my brother Daniel.

Daniel’s story

Earlier this year Daniel started experiencing pain in his side; at first, he thought it was an injury to his rib. He had recently been dropped by Medicaid, but after some time was able to secure a different insurance policy. When he finally got x-rays on his ribs the doctors noticed several masses on his liver. After several weeks of dealing with insurance approvals, he was able to get further diagnostic tests done.

The results were devastating. Stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer. The cancer spread to his liver resulting in several tumors and spread to his ribs.

This cancer diagnosis came at the absolute worst time for him and his family. Drai’s nightclub shutdown after Halloween weekend thereby eliminating his primary income. Through it all, Daniel has been dealing with excruciating pain in his side that makes it difficult for him to sleep or even sit up or stand for longer than a few minutes. So, he’s been unable to secure other employment. His wife, Jessica, works part-time while also helping to raise their son, 12 years old, and two daughters, 8 and 2 years old.

My mother and I have been helping with bills and rent. We’ve tried our best to alleviate some of the financial stress so that Daniel can focus on getting better.

On Wednesday, November 26, while other families are getting ready for Thanksgiving, Daniel will be going to his first 3-to-4-hour chemotherapy appointment. On Tuesday he will be having a port installed in his chest, so that they can administer the IV chemotherapy.

How you can help

Daniel has applied for unemployment insurance and is also in the process of applying for disability. During this whole process he is also going to several doctor’s appointments and is trying to raise a family. My mother is in Las Vegas with Daniel to help however she can.

If you can offer any financial support, even as little as $1.00, please do. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for contributing to this campaign.

Even more helpful would be for you to share this campaign on all your socials. Please help me spread the word so that this gets in front of as many people as possible. If 100 people see this and each donate $10, then that’s $1,000. But if 1,000 people see this and each donate $10, then we can reach our goal of $10,000.

The money will help Daniel and Jessica pay rent, buy groceries, and pay for gas to go to Daniel’s many doctor’s appointments. His monthly expenses total $3,200, and if we reach our goal we can help support Daniel’s and Jessica’s family for 3 months. That’s just for their normal bills; medical expenses are a different story entirely.

With the holidays coming up, and if we surpass our funding goal, there might be some money available to make this a relatively happy and merry Christmas for them. Please help me eliminate that looming cloud of financial stress for Daniel, Jessica, and their kids. I want my brother to focus on getting better without stressing about bills.

About Daniel

If you made it this far, please let me tell you a little about my brother Daniel. You all may know Daniel from South Tahoe High School, or as a familiar face at Drai’s nightclub. I know him as my only brother, my best friend (and rival) growing up. And although 15 months younger than me, I know him as the guy I’ve always looked up to. He was always more athletic, smarter, funnier, and infinitely kinder than me.

Growing up, my brother was a little league baseball star, Magic: The Gathering mastermind, and fantasy football genius. He was the constant entertainer, quick to do something funny to lift your spirits if you were down, always there to listen to you vent, or just sit with you in silence if you didn’t want to talk. He’s always ready and willing to help others when needed, and now it’s our turn to help him and his family.

He loves his Pittsburg Steelers, especially Jerome Bettis, Kordell Stewart, Troy Polamalu, and the legendary coach Bill Cowher. He loves the Colorado Buffaloes football team as well, having spent a couple years at the University of Colorado before transferring to San Diego City College.

He loved MMORPGs like Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, and World of Warcraft. His brilliant strategic mind always found ways to min-max his character builds. He put that mind to use to dominate our fantasy football league over several years, and to concoct and test several hundreds of Magic: The Gathering (MtG) decks. He was active in the MtG competitive scene in Atlanta, the Carson Valley, and Las Vegas for several years before ultimately retiring from the game.

After meeting Jessica in Atlanta, they continued a long-distance relationship before she moved to South Lake Tahoe to be with him. They got married and had their first child, a son, before moving down to Las Vegas so that Daniel could take a position as a security guard for Drai’s Nightclub. They’ve been in Las Vegas ever since.

The years have flown by, and I haven’t taken the opportunities to get our families together quite as often as I would have liked. But this year I’ll be going down to visit Daniel for Thanksgiving. Please get in touch with me if you’d like me to pass along your love and well wishes.

Thank you and much love,

Lawrence Chia