Juan Rodriguez Memorial Fund

On the evening of September 19th, our family's lives changed forever. A "Oh this could NEVER happen to us" moment, something that you only see in movies. Sadly for our family, it was a reality we had to adapt to.. & quickly. My brother Juan was diagnosed with Stage 4 stomach cancer after having a small bowel obstruction. The cancer had spread throughout his small intestine & was going to continue to spread to his other organs eventually. For a family with no cancer history, not only was it hard for us to accept, we also had NO IDEA on what TO expect! It was the waiting game for us the next following weeks. Everything was all over the place, we had to start his new low fiber diet, learn how to master changing his colostomy bag & I personally had to take classes to learn how to connect him to his TPN. We helped him get situated here at home while trying to maintain our selves together at the same time. Since the day we got the devasting news, everything was like a domino affect after that. We were not prepared for what continued to be thrown at us. On October 8th, He was finally able to go to his chemotherapy appointment with an oncologist at Moreno Valley Hospital. She was able to tell us what we thought was "good" news for his situation, a time frame of about two years. It was a relief that we would still have him around for a little while longer, as a family, we thought we could keep ourselves together until then. Juan stayed strong during this time, he mentioned to us that he wanted to fight until the end. Unfortunately the pains in his stomach only got worse. Before we knew it, the unbearable pains started to happen everyday. In between that time frame, we were in and out of Loma Linda University Hospital. They would admit him and then discharge him only to be taken back the next week. It became a cycle for Juan, the medication he kept getting prescribed was not enough to help with his pains anymore. He started to lose hope. Last saturday (Oct. 18) I recieved a call from his dr at LLU, letting me know that Juan's life expectancy has been reduced to less than 6 months. His type of cancer was aggressive & has began to make its way to other organs. Our biggest fear had happened. On the evening of Oct. 23rd, my sister Marlene along with my nephew Jr were notified that Juan has a couple days left with us. Our hearts sank. The cancer had reached his liver, causing it to completely shut down. I began to plan how we would collect funds for his funeral, but we are running against time. This go fund me page has been set up to help my family with the funeral costs. Due to the circumstances of COVID-19 I understand the hardship that everyone is going through so from the BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS we thank each and every one of you for your donations. I will personally be updating this page letting everyone know how he is doing. Much love & God bless ❤️