Who we are
My name is Levi Leveridge. Many of you will know my wife, Sarah Castello, and me from our twenty-three years in San Francisco and the Bay Area — or, perhaps, you knew us before we moved here in 2003 from the Midwest and the UK. In any case, I'm writing this plea on Sarah's behalf during this time of unexpected hardship.
As of December 2025, Sarah has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, rectal adenocarcinoma that had already spread to her liver.
Sarah and I have spent our careers in service to the community, often at non-profits: Sarah as an immigration attorney and myself as a teacher. She's the kind of attorney who answers late-night calls from clients, knows their families by name, and sits beside them in hearings that determine whether they stay together. She is the kind of person who gives without keeping score, offering free consultations, flexible payment arrangements, and countless hours of her time to some of the most vulnerable people in our society, even as the pressures on immigrant communities have never felt greater.
Where we are now
Since her diagnosis, Sarah has been in active treatment, at first with Kaiser and then at University of California, San Francisco Medical Center — after it was established that her cancer is rare, affecting only three percent of those afflicted with this form of cancer. Her treatment has consisted of FOLFOXIRI chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab.
The journey has been tough so far, with lots of immobilizing pain and many tears shed along the way; but, thankfully, the course of treatment has proved successful enough to allow for the possibility of a major medical milestone: surgery. On June 9, 2026 at UCSF Mission Bay, Dr. Ajay Maker will perform a parenchyma-sparing liver resection and place a hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) pump — an implanted device that will deliver chemotherapy directly to her liver, offering Sarah the best possible shot at durable remission.
Where we will be soon - hopefully
However, this is not a minor operation, and recovery will take longer than a few weeks; it's going to be a long haul. After Sarah’s surgery, the pump stays in place for years, with refill cycles every few weeks.
Once Sarah is strong enough to undergo further treatments, there will be a resumption of chemotherapy in addition to radiotherapy to treat the initial cancer site. This means we will remain tethered to UCSF for the foreseeable future, which also means we’ll remain California renters.
Why we’re asking
To undergo this treatment safely, Sarah has had to pause her practice of law through at least December 2026, likely longer. State disability benefits cover only a fraction of her income and are scheduled to exhaust before she's cleared to return to work. Even with insurance carefully chosen to keep UCSF in-network, the out-of-pocket costs across months of infusions, scans, specialist visits, and a complex surgical admission are substantial — and they just keep coming. Like most families, we rely on two incomes, and right now we're trying to get by on one. (Teachers, even beloved ones, just don’t make what we should.)
We’ve set a goal of $50,000 to help cover the gap created by lost income and the ongoing medical costs we’re facing during this long stretch of treatment and recovery.
Anything you can give or do to help during this time matters, big or small — like sharing this page, a kind note, a meal, or an occasional ride.
If you want to give on more than one occasion, if and when you are able, it is of course welcome.
What your support makes possible
Even supportive care insurance rarely reimburses, and there’s a lot that simply isn’t covered:
- Medical co-pays, deductibles, and other sundry connected costs
- Supportive care, neuropathy management, acupuncture, nutritional support, etc.
- Rent, utilities, groceries, and transportation (car payments/uber) to and from UCSF
- The unanticipated costs of a long recovery: home adaptations, help with driving during pump cycles, meal support during the hardest weeks
From me, personally
I married Sarah because she’s Sarah, but she is also the most devoted person I have ever met — to her clients, to the people she loves, to the things she believes in. Watching her go through this ordeal has taught me that this same woman who fights so hard for strangers is also the sort that is not inclined to ask anything for herself. So that’s why I'm asking on her behalf.
Thank you for reading this far, and thank you for whatever form your support takes. It reaches both of us.
For those who believe in the power of prayer — please hold us in yours.
With gratitude, Levi