*UPDATE*

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing with the tragic news that Ian passed away in the early morning on Thursday, January 8, 2026, after bravely fighting the extensive damage caused by cancer.

This fundraiser was originally created to support Ian and the costs of his cancer treatment; however, the financial need has now changed. Ian spent over seven weeks in the hospital facing numerous critical complications and undergoing multiple surgeries. Lindsay and Grace now need your support as they face significant hospital bills and funeral expenses.

We deeply appreciate any financial support friends and family can offer during this difficult time. Please keep Ian’s family in your thoughts and prayers.

Kara

_______________________________________________________

Friends and family, I've started this page for our dear friend, Ian Richards. Below is a message from his wife, Lindsay.

Hi All,

I must admit, trying to sit down to write a message on another GoFundMe site for our family, was more than difficult, I didn’t want to do it. Here we are, again, but this time on Ian’s behalf. First and foremost, our number one need is prayer.

While we have set up this site, we are not currently asking for any donations. Due to Ian’s participation in a melanoma specific - clinical trial, his treatment is being 100% covered via grant money. Praise God. With that said, some of our family has inquired about it, and still wanted to show us support during this time. Please do not feel obligated to do so, as we will continue to use this site to keep communication open. If at some point, should Ian no longer be part of the clinical trial @ Georgetown, or the doctor says we need to take a different route, we will proceed with going through insurance again, and I will communicate those changes here, should that occur. Please pray with us, that Ian will be able to remain in this clinical trial, as a result of his body healing quickly and having an amazing response to the drugs, without any reactions.

I know we serve an amazing God, and He has already provided a means of meeting our financial needs via a clinical trial, where Ian's treatment is 100% covered. We both know He is able to restore anything and anyone, no matter what the circumstances look like. I have seen it and experienced it for myself when I was sick. I can't say enough of how good He has been to Ian and I in dealing with my own health challenges for over a decade. Living separately, off and on, while in different states, and traveling back and forth with Grace as a toddler, and again years later with a 7-year-old. Ian worked in DC/MD, and flew back and forth to me renting/living in Florida. Grace living with my parents, & paying 100% out-of-pocket for my treatment. I say all of this, not to make this about me, but to show how much God has showed up for us, again and again, providing us with exactly what we needed, exactly when we needed it.

Now that we are facing this new health challenge, I can't help but be reminded of what He brought us through that seemed nearly impossible. Not only did He provide, but He exceeded our expectations, in ways that I could not have even imagined at the time. The verse that continues to come to mind is, Ephesians 3:20: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us". He did it then and both Ian and I know, He will do it again, He will show up, He will provide.

Neither one of us knows what His plan is for this/us or even what He is preparing us for, what we know is, He will not waste our suffering. There is a purpose and only God ultimately knows what that is. I'm thankful that He sees the entire picture on this, and I can trust that perspective, as opposed to my limited view of things from where I stand. While this is very uncomfortable now, what brings me comfort, is knowing He is birthing something new, even through another trial. I know this is the ultimate goal, to look like Jesus more each day, and to not forget His promises to us. This is where our hope remains.

So we are going to move forward, fighting & praying, and thanking Him for delivering us, because He has already won the battle.

Diagnosis:

For those of you who are now learning about Ian and the doctors' diagnosis … I wanted to give you a “quick” synopsis of what has occurred thus far.

On August 7th, Ian came home after being out at dinner with a friend, and mentioned his stomach felt off that day, but didn’t think anything of it. As the evening progressed, so did his pain, and he was doubled over by 10pm. We were at the ER within 20 minutes waiting for him to be seen, but his pain continued to worsen. While running the typical blood work, they noticed his lipase (pancreatic enzyme marker) was over the reporting limit of 3,500 (normal levels are 35), prompting them to do a CT scan, to look at the state of his pancreas. Upon receiving the results, they confirmed his pancreas was very inflamed, indicating pancreatitis, but also saw several other areas with suspect “spots”, including the right lung, liver, and pancreas, all would require further evaluation/testing. Ian was admitted to the hospital the morning of August 8th , stayed 7 days, and was discharged on August 14th . During his stay, he underwent a liver biopsy, and an MRI of the brain. It wasn’t until the next day, (August 9th ) when returning back to the hospital, I walked into the on-call oncologist speaking with Ian & going over the CT results from when he was in the ER. I wasn’t sure what was going on and started to ask several questions.

Initially, we thought Ian was only in for pancreatitis and just needed time to recover; however, when the oncologist continued talking about the CT scan and pointing to the images, I knew this was not at all what we were dealing with. He said, this looks like (the “c” word), and it’s in multiple areas. He continued, “we don’t know what this is yet, or where it originated from, but that’s why I'm here, to figure all this out for you” … He mentioned that the pancreatitis (that he did in fact have), was a result of everything else going on in the body. He also mentioned that this was likely going on for a minimum of 2 years, unbeknownst to Ian. Mind you, Ian had zero symptoms up until the night of his dinner, so trying to absorb this amount of information, was just not penetrating. I honestly thought at one point that they had the wrong scan, and his was mistakenly swapped with someone else (who was really ill). Ian doesn’t get sick – he’s the strong one – playing soccer, running, biking 40+ miles, doesn’t drink, never smoked. How is this possible? I think from everyone who has learned about Ian has had these exact words.

The next scheduled procedure was the liver biopsy; this would determine what we were dealing with and direct us to a specific treatment plan. The results took about 4 days (that felt like 40), and they came back as late-stage malignant melanoma. I immediately thought, when was the last time he had a skin check done, has he had one? The man doesn’t even sit in the sun, he’s an island boy, and doesn’t sit in the sun! Every time the three of us visited any beach, he would always sit under the umbrella, clothed. I would sweat just looking at him. I started doing some research at Georgetown and the Washington Hospital Center in DC, to see what we needed to do next, and who would be the best doctor for this.

The first priority was to get him stable, eating, going on his own, and in zero pain before they would even consider discharging him. His lipase number continued to come down, and slowly he started eating solids and walking. As soon as he was discharged, we hit the ground running, getting him into as many appointments as possible, and getting what was needed to move forward. I stopped calling doctors, and instead, we just started showing up at their offices, asking if he could be seen and explaining the situation. Three times, we were able to immediately be seen, and 2 of them, just so happened to have cancellations 10 minutes prior to us showing up. All God.

We saw a regular eye doc, and a retinol specialist, that checked for

melanoma behind the eyes. We also saw 2 different dermatologists and a gastro doc, and they all confirmed Ian had no area on his body that looked suspicious. His eyes were also 100% clear and healthy. Both dermatologists agreed, and said, it is possible for the immune system to be triggered to a specific area on the body, and it will eat that area pulling it back inside the body, leaving no visible trace to the eye, while it then spreads internally. Either way, his skin is clear, and even if something were to be found, the treatment would take care of any suspicious areas.

Jumping forward a few weeks, I got Ian an appt. to see one of the main melanoma doctors located at the Washington Hospital Center/Georgetown Lombardi location, but their first date of availability was Sept. 23rd (which was too long). Instead, Ian has a very good friend who was able to make this appt. happen for us within days, to be seen on August 26th , a month sooner. Upon meeting with the doctor, he mentioned that he was running/overseeing a clinical trial at Georgetown, specific to melanoma patients, that Ian could participate in as early as Sept 9th. After about 2 hours and going back and forth with the oncologist in his office, Ian decided that’s what he wanted to do, and his first treatment with the clinical trial took place on 9/9/25.

He has had zero reactions to the drugs thus far. Moving forward, he will have his infusion every 3 weeks, blood work done every week, and a CT scan completed every 12 weeks (first scan is December 2025) to gauge his progress.

Please pray for an immediate response to treatment, that Ian will remain strong, able to eat/gain weight, and will remain w/o pain. That as he progresses through treatment, he will grow stronger, and have zero side-effects. That each of his organs are clear and healthy in Jesus’ name.

Thank you all for your love, support, and most importantly your prayers, not just now, as we embark on this new journey, but over the years as you have faithfully supported Ian, Grace and myself.

We love and appreciate each of you.

Ian, Lindsay and Grace