Support the Petrovic Family's Fight Against Cancer

Please help support my dear friends Aleks, Lauren, and Luka Petrovic

Aleks is a driven, family oriented and loving 35 year old who was diagnosed with third stage testicular cancer, which had metastasized to his lungs, in Oct 2022. Aleks is married to Lauren, who is also 35, and they have a wonderful 3-year-old named Luka. Lauren, her brother DJ and her parents, Pati and Dan Stockton, have been our close family friends over 20 years.

In 2022, Aleks had surgery and chemo and was declared cancer-free. In Aug 2023, the cancer metastasized to his brain, for which he had a successful surgery and radiation. In July, 2024, he unfortunately required another brain surgery, due to brain tumor reoccurrence as the cancer came back. In Aug 2024, he, unfortunately, had a third successful brain surgery for an infection. Currently he is undergoing a stem cell transplant process that includes three sets of intense chemotherapy and transfer of stem cells over the next 2-3 months. The Petrovics currently live in Fresno, but due to Aleks requiring particular treatment for this rare type of cancer he needs treatment at Cedars Sinai in Beverly Hills.

Help for their living situation is their immediate need. Aleks is in the hospital for 3-4 weeks at a time and then home for 1-2 weeks for each treatment. Being far from home has put stress on the family structure. Without Aleks at home, Lauren and Luka need support from her parents, Pati and Dan, for both child care and emotional support. Lauren is spending all day at the hospital with Aleks and also caring for Luka when she’s not at the hospital.

The best solution seems to be for Pati, Dan, Lauren, and Luka to rent a small apartment for the next 2-3 months so that they can all stay together, care for Luka, and help Lauren so she can have the strength to support both Aleks and Luka. They cannot find a place reasonably close to the hospital without spending about $7,000 per month, which is unaffordable, especially given that Aleks is unable to work and Lauren is having to miss quite a bit of work. The hospital has been unable to help them with any kind of housing.

I'm hoping my friends (and friends of friends) can donate any amount so that we can give them money to rent a place near the hospital, and help with the ever increasing medical bills.