Help Al Del Vecchio’s fight with Glioblastoma

Calling all prayer warriors and our wonderful community! The Delvecchio family needs our help the most right now!

After Al’s surgery, about two months ago, he was given the option of receiving treatment in the form of Chemo and Radiation therapy with the hope of shrinking any residual tumor and hopefully preventing or delaying any relapse in tumor growth. Al elected to not undergo any treatment.

Several weeks ago, Al’s condition rapidly deteriorated. It is believed that a combination of the numerous medications that he is taking has contributed to a decline in cognitive function and motor skills.  As a result, he has been primarily in bed.  Al’s wife Lisa, in consultation with the home health care nurse, has been carefully making changes to Al’s medication regimen. As a result, there has been some recent positive indication that these adjustments are helping with some of the symptoms. Time will tell and, in the meantime, the family and close friends that are with Al daily are remaining positive.

As some of you may be aware, Al and Lisa's youngest son John suffered an anoxic brain injury due to a drug overdose back in February of 2019. As a result of John's condition, Al and Lisa decided to move John home so they could provide the type of full-time care that he requires.  Lisa kept her full-time job which meant that Al provided the bulk of the care to John, this is ongoing intensive 24/7 care.

Due to Al’s condition, he is now unable to care for John which means that Lisa has continued, almost exclusively, being John's full-time caregiver. The type of care that John needs is at times very technical and outside the scope that family and friends can provide. This means that Lisa is unable to spend any meaningful time caring and providing for Al. So, I am about to ask you all for some money, and as much as you can afford to spend.

Al and Lisa had previously hired a home healthcare nurse to help them out with caring for John. The nurse charges $20/hr. and has been staying one night a week at the house.  When the nurse is not there, Lisa must assume the role.  The care is literally so intensive that whoever is caring for John can’t be more than a few feet away from him at all times.

Our goal right now is to raise enough money to hire the nurse to be there as often as she can, so Lisa can be with Al.  $200 buys Lisa a full night to be with Al.

Quite a bit of money was raised recently in the GoFundMe campaign that was set up by a friend at Reno PD.  Al and the entire family have been immensely grateful for the outpouring of support that they received. Lisa has been faithfully and carefully stewarding that money in a way to stretch it and make it last as long as possible, however expenses continue to mount.

In addition to Al’s current battle, Lisa is surviving on very little sleep, usually 2 – 3 hrs. per night and that is typically broken up as she is up throughout the night with John. This is not sustainable.

In addition to a Zelle account that has been already set up. Either option (or both) would be greatly appreciated by the family.  However, if you need to pick one, I encourage as many people as possible to consider donating to the Zelle account.  The benefit to this account is that the donor can elect a one-time gift, or better yet they can elect to make smaller re-occurring donations.  The re-occurring donations would be invaluable to the family as we are all hunkering down and preparing ourselves to stand with the Del Vecchio’s as long as needed.

As a reminder, $200 buys Lisa a night to spend with Al, or resting, which she desperately needs right now. Whatever you can afford, everything is helpful!

Thank you all for your continued love and support. Keep those prayers coming!