Jimmy  Darts

SB Mowing

Pattie Gonia

Little Miss Flint

Kalina Silverman / @makebigtalk on Instagram

Samuel Weidenhofer

Patriotic Kenny Foundation

Ben Saunders - Flawless Cleaning

The Dogist

Peter Bond

Amy Jandrisevits

Ask Uncle Jack

That Good News Girl

Tess Bohne

FowlMouthFarmer

Latonja and Taylor Richardson

Officer Richard Craig

Flavor Flav

John Wolfe

Khloe

<div>On April 12, 2023, our son Ben was killed in a car accident. He was 23 years old and had just graduated from Colorado School of Mines and started his engineering career with Northrop Grumman. Ben was an athlete who loved sports and was on the Mines football team while pursuing his degree. His circle of friends stretched from Boston to Colorado, and he was a light to all who knew him.
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<div>Each life is an infinite collection of possibilities, collapsing into fact with each moment that passes, a shining thread that is the story of our lives. Rather than mourning the possibilities that were lost or saying, "He was too young," we're choosing to celebrate the time that we had together: the 23 years of joy, energy, and adventure that Ben brought to life. We also want to honor the impact that Colorado School of Mines had on his life by endowing a scholarship in his name so that other students can have the same experience.
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<div><strong>All proceeds from this fundraiser will go to the Colorado School of Mines to endow a permanent scholarship in Ben's name to help other student-athletes with their tuition. </strong>
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<div><strong>﻿We need to raise $25,000 to create the endowment</strong>, but every dollar beyond that will increase the amount of the annual grant, so <strong>our stretch goal is $50,000</strong>. We want to raise this money by the end of June so that we can put the scholarship in place for the 2023-24 school year.
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<div>The Cole family thanks you for your support as we honor the memory of our son.
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<div><em>Note: if you wish to give your gift directly to the Colorado School of Mines, you can visit </em><a href="https://weare.mines.edu/give" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>the School of Mines donation site</em></a><em>. To ensure that the funds go to the scholarship, please note on the form that you are giving in memory of Benjamin Cole </em><strong><em>and</em></strong><em> select "Other" under Selected Causes and type in "Benjamin Cole Memorial Scholarship."</em>
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Benjamin Cole Memorial Scholarship

Bernardo Vasquez

<div>Together, we’ve known Angel for over 45 years.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>After crossing the fifty-year mark, he was in his prime, building a mission-driven company to help people through life’s transitions, flying back to Boston to stay close to family, and raising his 10-year-old daughter, Iris, in Los Angeles.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>Co-parenting takes patience, humility, and heart, and Angel has all three. He made it look easy, ensuring Iris always felt surrounded by love, from Boston to LA to Seattle, where friends have become family

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762241333932983_r." width="100%" />

<div>In Los Angeles, Angel is the Dad in the front row at musicals, gymnastics, and voice lessons. He volunteers at her school, always present, always cheering her on. For Iris’s 10th birthday, he bought twelve orchestra Wicked tickets at the Pantages Theatre so her friends and their parents could share the experience and then gave up his own seat so another parent could attend.

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<div><br />

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<div>He’s gone to great lengths to keep Iris connected to her three best friends; Norah in Boston, Marion in Seattle, and Eva in Los Angeles; because he believes that childhood bonds are sacred and worth every sacrifice.

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<div><br />

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<div>Angel was truly forging a path as a founder and single co-parenting Dad.

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_176224117764497_r." width="100%" />

<div>He’d even started to think about dating again, but instead, he poured his energy into learning pickleball. Before long, he’d earned a 3.5 ranking.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>When he noticed it was taking several days to recover after playing, he chalked it up to getting older.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>The morning he couldn’t find the strength to make his daughter breakfast or lunch, he knew something was wrong. After dropping her off at school, he went straight to the ER.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>That was Monday, September 29.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>The ER sent him home with what seemed like pancreatitis.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>But the exhaustion wouldn’t go away. Searching for answers, he turned to AI uploading his medical lab work and even a photo of his stool. The AI flagged a bile issue and urged him to see a gastroenterologist.

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<div><br />

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<div>He followed through, meeting with his doctor to review the results and debated AI's finding. They landed on comparing new labs with those from his first ER visit. When the labs came in over the portal, she urged him to return to the ER on Sunday, October 12.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>One CT scan later, everything changed. The image showed a mass on his pancreas and spots on his liver.

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<div><br />

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<div>He was admitted immediately. Days of tests, anxious waiting, and desperate prayers followed. Then, on October 22, came the words no one is ready for:

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<div><br />

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<div><strong><em>Stage IV metastatic pancreatic cancer. </em></strong>

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>The treatment is relentless, and the odds are steep but Angel has never been one to back down from a fight.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>Angel didn’t freeze; he fought back with his mind. He started to study clinical trials, the disease, the hospitals, and started mapping high volume pancreatic hospitals.

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762241025542455_r." width="100%" />

<div>To simplify his understanding of his illness, he created an AI oncologist he calls Dr. Sapo Concho.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>Dr. Sapo is more than AI GPT Agent, it’s a lifeline. It helps Angel track his diagnosis, interpret tests, and plan next steps. His entire medical file has been uploaded coupled with research, clinical trials and subject matter oncologist experts from all over the world.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>It holds medical teams accountable and keeps him ready for whatever’s ahead, whether that’s a clinical trial, a new therapy, or a transfer to City of Hope or UCLA Health.

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<div><br />

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<div>Built with purpose, Dr. Sapo reflects Angel’s spirit: combining intellect, empathy, and innovation to stay alive, stay present for Iris, and continue building Respiris.

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<div><br />

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<div>To enable him to cancel cancer, he brought twelve people together, most of them strangers, and turned them into his “home team" using WhatsApp.

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<div><br />

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<div>Then, he built a “family home team,” a lifeline that keeps love, updates, and decisions flowing among those closest to him.

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<div>Every day, Angel fights researching, organizing, pushing for the best care, and holding onto hope.

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<div><br />

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<div>And through it all, he keeps showing up for others. He checks in on his daughter, supports his caregivers, comforts his friends. Even now, when he deserves every ounce of care, he’s still the one giving it.

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<div><br />

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<div>Angel’s story is one of grit and gratitude. The son of a machine operator and a house cleaner, he paid his own way through college and graduate school; a point of pride that defines who he is.

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762240864530567_r." width="100%" />

<div>Every summer, Iris and Angel walk through Harvard’s campus and sneak into classrooms. They pick up a T-shirt at the Co-Op, she throws the t-shirt and have lunch at a café. Not because Dad expects her to go there, but to show her that success is within reach and that she can choose her own path if she wants it.

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<div><br />

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<div>Angel's life has been flipped upside down.

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<div>When he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he made a bold choice:

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<div><em>To keep building his company anyway. To lead, to create, and to live with cancer, not under it.</em>

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<div>Everyone knows chemo will slow him down, but if you know him, you know he won’t let it break his spirit. He’s never been one to play the victim.

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<div><br />

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<div>Through his <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelcruzado/recent-activity/all/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posts on LinkedIn</a> , he’s been demonstrating how to face hardship without becoming a victim of it. His conviction remains unwavering. He believes he will beat cancer.

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<div><br />

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<div>Practically overnight, he became an authority on leading a company while battling cancer, using his story to advocate publicly for resilience and purpose in the face of adversity.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>His whole life has been about helping, hustling, supporting, and healing others. It’s inspiring and exhausting to witness simultaneously.

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<div><br />

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<div>We just want him to rest for once.

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<div><br />

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<div>Behind the scenes Angel has volunteered many hours to Colfax Charter. He has built WhatsApp groups for each classroom to ensure community was activated and ensuring the villages were complete with Mom and Dads present with their children year-round.

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<div><br />

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<div>Recently, while helping prepare for the Halloween event that brought together all the fifth graders, he showed up with cancer and all. Despite the fatigue and pain that most would find unbearable, he was there, quietly doing his part. He simply refuses to let illness define him. To him, it wasn’t about cancer; it was about community, commitment, and showing his daughter that resilience means showing up, no matter the circumstances.

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<div>He has documented his Dad experience on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/angel.cruzado/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instagram</a> .

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762241561888559_r." width="100%" />

<div>If your child has ever gone to Colfax, you’ve seen Angel, the Dad walking his daughter to school every morning. For him, those 500 steps aren’t just a routine; they’re sacred. Every walk is a chance to talk, to laugh, to dream, to inspire. And over the years, those steps have turned into tens of thousands; each one a quiet act of love and inspiration.

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762242008762919_r." width="100%" />

<div>When his family broke apart in Washington State, he quickly learned how fathers could be quietly erased from their children’s lives. Instead of giving up, he studied the system, rallied other Dads who were hurting, and became their voice. From that movement, he took on the State of Washington itself in U.S. District Court, not for his own case (he’d already rebuilt his life in California with shared custody), but for every Dad still fighting to be seen and every child who deserves both parents. He did this all <em>pro se</em>.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>In Los Angeles, when asked by his gaming colleagues, he co-facilitated monthly conversations with the Studio Ops Network gaming community on returning to work and rebuilding workplace culture. He volunteered because he could be of service.

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<div>And finally, his company <a href="https://www.respiris.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Respiris</a> launched in February 2023. It was beginning to soar. His daughter inspired him to build a company that re-inspired transitions, not inspire, because people had been inspired before.

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762241735208111_r." width="100%" />

<div>Over 3,000 people have applied to to be part of the job search coach marketplace he built, and he was finding his voice; figuring out how to enable the HR world how to support people in transition and line up partners. While more than 100 people gathered for his first LA Tech Week event on October 15, he was in a hospital room learning he had cancer.

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762242147407451_r." width="100%" />

<div>His vision is to walk with people through their transitions, without judgment. From layoff to employed, from underemployed to thriving, from veteran to civilian life, or from incarceration to a new beginning. He believes every story deserves compassion, and every person deserves a path forward.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Angel has a way of making people reflect on empathy, on purpose, and on how we can better support one another.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>Many have asked how they can help him. The answer is simple: send a message, post on his LinkedIn, share a laugh, or just let him know you’re thinking of him. You can follow <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelcruzado/recent-activity/all/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">his journey on LinkedIn</a> and keep him in your thoughts, prayers, and good energy.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>If he could ask one thing of you, it would be this:

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<div><br />

</div>

<div><em>Take the time to be with your family</em>.<em> That’s where life happens. </em>

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>But we know that love alone can't get beat pancreatic cancer.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>We’re asking, from the heart, for your help in easing the financial weight cancer has placed on him.

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762242265826690_r." width="100%" />

<div>The list is long: biopsies, hospital bills, insurance premiums, ER visits whenever his fever spikes, quarterly stent replacements, MRIs, clinical trials, supplements, and specialized food to keep his strength up. He is trying to find a family that will foster their dog in Los Angeles or they will have to send her to Boston to be with family.

</div>

<div><br />

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<div>All of this is happening <em>very fast</em> while Angel faces the loss of income during treatment.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>The bills are adding up quickly, creating a financial reality that’s as frightening as the diagnosis itself.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>There’s so much he can’t control right now, but this is something we can.

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<div><br />

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<div>With our support, he can focus on healing, not worrying.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>If Angel has ever invited you to a gathering, worked alongside you, made you laugh, bought you coffee, offered career advice, posted something that resonated, called you, or simply believed in you... please consider contributing to his care.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>It’s our turn to show up for him the way he’s always shown up for others.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Each donation says:

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div><em>I see you.</em>

</div>

<div><em>I support you.</em>

</div>

<div><em>You are not alone.</em>

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>And if there’s anyone who will pay that kindness forward ten times over, it’s Angel.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>Your support allows him to focus on what truly matters; caring for his body, fighting for the right treatment, and treasuring every moment with Iris, his loved ones, and friends when his strength allows.

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<div><br />

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<div>If you’re meeting Angel for the first time through this story, welcome to the world he’s built; a world filled with love, hope, and the kind of community that lifts people up.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>We’re so grateful you’ve found your way here. Once you do, you don’t leave unchanged.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>Angel’s cancer is rare and aggressive.

</div>

<div><br />

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<div>It demands specialized care and that care is costly. Our goal is to raise whatever money we can to give him the best possible chance to heal. Every gift, no matter the size, helps, and so does sharing this campaign with others who believe in love and humanity at work.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Angel is determined to fight, with every breath, for the life he loves: being Iris’s dad, building the company that carries his purpose, and sharing joy with friends and family.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>But if, as he humbly puts it, “things go west,” any remaining funds will go toward caring for Iris and securing her future.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Their Dad-Daughter bond is extraordinary.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>A love that lights up every room they enter.

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<div><br />

</div>

<div>We want to make sure that both Angel and Iris feel the strength of this community behind them.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>With love and gratitude,

</div>

<div><em>Bernardo</em> and <em>Sarah</em>

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div><em>Sarah and Family with Angel &amp; Iris</em>

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762242419185593_r." width="100%" />

<div><br />

</div>

<div><em>Bernardo and Family with Angel &amp; Iris</em>

</div><img class="text-editor_textEditorImage__43_GE" alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/96267827_1762242448554748_r." width="100%" />

<div><br />

</div>

Help Angel Cruzado Beat Pancreatic Cancer

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Bernardo Vasquez

Bernardo Vasquez

What they care about

Featured causes

Help Angel Cruzado Beat Pancreatic Cancer

Benjamin Cole Memorial Scholarship