Hi, friends. This is Charlie.

Charlie is a vibrant, happy, beautiful baby boy. He likes to rough house with his big brother, Max (3) and spend time with his mom and dad (Joel and Abby).

Not long ago, Charlie began exhibiting troubling symptoms that culminated in a care flight to a children's hospital in South Dakota.

It turns out that Charlie has cancer of the brain and spine. Specifically, his care team believes that he is fighting an atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor...or ATRT. Learn more about what Charlie is up against here.

For those of us who aren't into doing homework, it's enough to know that Charlie and his family are in for the fight of their lives. This type of cancer is aggressive and extremely dangerous.

That said, Charlie and his family are not giving up. His care team has a plan and they're hitting this devil with everything they've got.

That's where we come in. It's easy to feel helpless at times like this, but we're not going to give up, either. Although Charlie's family has health insurance, fighting this illness will create significant financial hardship for them now and into the future.

The out-of-pocket maximum alone will present a challenge--not to mention travel/living expenses, childcare arrangements for their 3-year-old son, Max, and all the other miscellaneous expenses a young family encounters during a long, difficult illness. If Charlie makes it through the radiation treatments he's receiving, he's in for at least one course of chemotherapy.

Right now, we're all just trying to swim to the first buoy.

Let's step up and give them a hand. Charlie's parents, Joel and Abby, are both good, hard-working people who love their children. We can help them focus on what matters (making sure Charlie gets well) instead of how they're going to stay afloat financially.

No matter what, this is the beginning of a long road for Charlie's whole family. Please consider a donation to help support the quickly growing list of expenses resulting from this awful disease.

Thank you,

Doug Murano

Charlie's Uncle