Help DJ Arbelaez Fight Stage 4 Cancer

 

On August 3rd, our brother DJ was diagnosed with very aggressive stage 4 metastatic gastric cancer. This type of cancer attacks the stomach lining and is incurable as it has spread to the liver and the lymph nodes. Needless to say, this was devastating news for him and for us and our family.

 

DJ is currently undergoing chemotherapy at Johns Hopkins to attempt to reduce the volume of the tumors. Recently he started his second cycle of chemo.

 

Although he had to come back to the US for his diagnosis and treatment, DJ had been living in our home country of Colombia for the last 4 years, and he celebrated his 26th birthday there this past April. Unfortunately, this means that he is no longer covered under our parents’ health insurance and will therefore have to deal with higher medical costs. He is receiving great care at the hospital and at home, where our mom is his primary caregiver.

 

We are humbly asking for your donations to help cover out-of-pocket medical costs, loss of income for both DJ and our mom, quality of life expenses, and ultimately, end-of-life expenses.

 

 

We want to ensure that DJ has access to everything he needs to fight for as long as possible. We also want every one of those days to bring him some happiness and peace. It’s our hope that our family and friends can come together to make that possible.

 

As unfair as this disease has proven to be, and as little as we can do to change the final outcome, we know that our ability to create meaning and hope as a community will stem any possible tide of despair or alienation.

 

Thank you for your support and positive energy and a special thank you to everyone who has already gone out of their way to be there for us during this time.

 

- Juan-David, Andrés-Mauricio, and Alejandro Arbelaez