Help the family of James Riley put him to rest

Hello family & friends,  

   The worst nightmare for a parent is to lose a child. My loving mom, Anna McDevitt is devastated at the loss of her only son James Riley (aka “Seamus” from our Irish ancestry). We found out on July 26th, 2024 that James had metastatic cancer in his body. They could not give us the primary location but by Monday July 29th in the afternoon we were told that he had cancer throughout his lymph nodes, bones and adrenal gland. We were in shock and could not believe it!

   Sadly in the beginning of July, my mom had to call 911 because James couldn’t walk and he was admitted. He was in Kaiser hospital for a few days and then they forced him to go home without any testing. Once home, he went into his room never to leave his room again until my mom had to call 911 on July 19th. At that point he was in his room for five days, his whole body was swollen and he could barely move.

   They admitted him back into Kaiser Santa Clara, finally did a CT scan where they saw masses in his chest so they did a biopsy. 7/26 we received the results. 7/29 he had a PET scan & August 1st was the first and only time we saw an oncologist and she said she’s so sorry but he doesn’t have long to live. The answers we got were very vague, but she mentioned that she thinks that he has NUT Carcinoma a very rare cancer. We were devastated & couldn’t believe that he could have a cancer for so long, but not know because the proper medical treatment and testing were not done. With all the technology that we have these days it seems impossible, but it’s our reality. We had no chance to FIGHT THIS CANCER!   

   Our sweet James passed away at 4:25am on August 3rd with his mom & sister by his side.   

   James & his mom Anna (he was a self proclaimed mamas’ boy) were roommates & lived together for almost 20 years. They loved each-other so much & he loved cooking for her. Our mom’s heart is broken & she already misses him so much. They shared housing expenses and he always worried about her. Anna has been a nanny for the same family for almost 12 years but depends on his part of the household expenses so she is very worried about her future. She lives paycheck to paycheck with no savings. James would appreciate his mom being supported at this time. He had such a loving & giving heart. He would be known to leave generous tips to servers because he was a server for many years. He also loved his job at Classic Car Wash. He was proud to be one of the top salesman while he worked there.   

   James’s mom Anna will use these donations to pay for his final arrangements, his Celebration of Life & anything left to help with her rent & any other expenses. Her daughters are doing what they can to support her during this time as well & will forever. 

   Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers️ We are grateful for any donations & thank you! 

   One last beautiful thing we would like to share is that on Tuesday July 30th James told his sister Lori (over & over again) that there is Life after death and that he was seeing his family & friends. She was blessed to pray with him and he asked Jesus into his heart. It gives his family peace that he is in Heaven with those that have gone before us. 

  May God Bless your family & Friends