Support Marco's Battle Against Cancer

Hello I’m Jennifer Whitney, and my boyfriend Marco Lugo who is 26 years old has been battling cancer for over two years. As of right now Marco has Embryonal Carcinoma which is a very aggressive cancer. In the beginning of the year of 2022, Marco was unfortunately diagnosed with Testicular Cancer Stage 3 which is the highest stage for Testicular cancer, Marco had grown a tumor at this point and had to get surgery immediately. Unfortunately life got harder for Marco after recovery from surgery, a couple weeks after, his dad and best friend passed away only a few weeks apart. Due to this set back, grief was HARD on him and unfortunately Marco couldn’t keep up with doctors appointments or keeping his cancer on check. Within only a few months later we find out Marco had grown multiple tumors in his chest, and a huge tumor in his stomach. This had caused him to lose drastic weight due to the size of the tumor in his stomach, he had weighed 97 lbs at this point. Fast forward to today, Marco has done a total of 9 cycles of chemotherapy that kept him in the hospital for over a week each cycle and months worth of recovery time and treatment. He went into remission in February 2024, we truly thought finally the first month in two years we had a calm life and even spontaneously did our first trip together in 4 years to celebrate. Unfortunately soon after, his remission ended early. We found out the high dose chemotherapy did not help freeze the tumors in his body which led to spread again to his brain. He had a brain surgery to remove this tumor in the brain less than a month ago. As of today, he still has multiple tumors in his chest and a tumor in his stomach due to the high dose chemos not working. He has had two brain tumors and has gone through two brain surgeries in the past 5 months before yesterday. As of yesterday May 10, 2024 we have received the news the same tumor is growing back in his brain, this will be the THIRD tumor he has in his brain and will need 10 cycles of radiation to the brain which starts on May 14, 2024. Marco will also be in the hospital for a total of 4-8 weeks next month for a bone marrow transplant which soon after discharge will take months of recovery and will need 24/7 care by me. Overall, due to recovery time from such high dose chemo, brain surgeries, time spent in the hospital, spending all of 2023-2024 with set backs, unexpected emergency visits and calling the hospital our home, it has kept us both from having a stable financial income in the past two years. We’ve been struggling a lot financially and have lived off very little money provided by disability. We were receiving financial help through disability for a year but unfortunately they just cut him off out of nowhere, we’ve gone to many resources for financial help but not luck. Time is very precious to us for many reasons right now. We have no stable source of income other than my small business which doesn’t cover much and unfortunately my small business is the most I can do while taking care of Marco. The next few months are going to be tough on us and we are in desperate need for financial support. This money would help us so much for the next months while he goes through a lot of radiation, a bone marrow transplant and long recovery time and me being able to continue to be by his side as much as I can. He always tells me I’m his rock through this and I know it’s hard for him when I’m not able to be there for him and have to put focus in my small business to help us financially. All money raised will go toward Marcos financial needs, our expenses while living together and recovery time in the next months, food and needs for our fur baby, gas for our daily travels to the hospital in the coming weeks and months since our hospital isn’t close from home. He’s is truly going through enough hardships, no one deserves to go through this and especially Marco, if you ask anyone who knows him or has had a conversation with him, or worked with him, they will say he is the strongest, kindest and most loving, hardworking, and selfless man. We never thought we’d ever make a go fund me and ask desperately for financial help, but right now it feels like it can be the best help we can get to focus on Marco’s health and battle this cancer. We can’t express how grateful we are for every single person taking the time to read all of this. Any kind of support helps, even just sharing or spreading the words to friends or family or sharing on social media will be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much with love from Marco and I.