Helping Christopher Crush Colon Cancer

Hi everyone, I’m Kelli, Christopher’s favorite aunt. Just kidding ☺️!! He has no favorites, and he is well-loved by all of his many aunts and uncles!

It isn’t easy to know how to start this post – it’s been a surreal couple of weeks. As many of you know, Christopher has always been a strong and sporty guy, he excelled particularly in baseball growing up but loved soccer and basketball too, and he’s always loved the outdoors, wild animals, and generally being healthy.

So after a short stint of being unwell, it was a total shock to learn that he had colon cancer. And being only 21, such a diagnosis seemed impossible – surely it was a mistake, but after many tests and scans, the specialists confirmed that that was what we were dealing with.

The doctors discovered a tumor two weeks ago, and they can't remove it at this time. But thankfully, they’ve responded quickly, and we’ve now got a treatment plan in place. Christopher had a port installed this week, and he will receive three back-to-back days of chemo every two weeks for 16 weeks, then he’ll progress to radiation therapy for five weeks, and then he’ll be given time to recover before attempting surgery again.

If you don’t yet know my nephew, let me tell you a little about him. He was a super cute and cheeky kid. Definitely sports crazy; anything that involved a ball was his game. And as he grew into his teens, it was clear that baseball was made for him and his parents spent many weekends (years really) driving around the country attending tournaments with other sports-mad families. Yet despite the tough, sporty exterior, Christopher always had a soft spot for his furry friends – truly, the whole family are animal-crazy. So vet school seemed like a possibility, but after high school Christopher instead moved to Texas with his young and equally lovable wife Lily so she could start her military career while he pursued a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. He got his student’s licence in 2020. And most recently, he began studies toward another dream of working as an EMT medic, and Christopher started his EMT training program in San Antonio last month. Unfortunately, he’s had to drop the EMT course for now, but we’re hoping he’ll be able to rejoin sometime next year.

This diagnosis was a complete shock for Christopher and our whole family. He’ll be receiving chemo/radiation for several months – in and out of the hospital. It will be a hard road these next several months, Christopher won't be able to work or earn, and so we thank you for your support – in whatever form it takes – please know that it means a lot to Christopher, Lily and all of us.

I’ll update this page as things progress. In the meantime, please send all the positive vibes you can and please keep Christopher in your thoughts and prayers. If you’ve ever seen him play sports, you know he’s tough and strong – we will beat this together.

By the way, the dog in the picture is their beloved Kenobi (yes, of the Star Wars variety). Kenobi doesn’t like most people (or any people), but he adores Christopher. I think that says it all.

#christopherSTRONG #crushingcancer #fightingcancertogether