Pancreatic Cancer Support for Antanas Grace & Ula

Grace and Antanas welcomed baby Ula into the world in January 2023. Three months later, at the age of 38, Antanas was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. As dear friends of this family, we are asking people to support them however they can.

Anyone who knows them can confirm Grace and Antanas are New York’s hospitality power couple. Every day they touched hundreds of lives and made them a little better in their own way.

Grace’s commitment to the guest experience is second to none. She brings a humility to her work that is elsewhere hard to find. To know her is to work with her, but even the restaurant regulars have found their way into her personal phone for whatever they need while she’s off the clock.

Antanas, in his own right, is the most entertaining bartender in New York. Not only are his drinks creative and delicious, but also his demeanor and style are unparalleled. When you step into a bar when Antanas is working, you are in his world and he will take exceptional care of you.

Having such talents suits them well to parenthood. Baby Ula is so new to this world and is already so loved.

Antanas remains positive to an inspiring degree, but the painful truth is that Grace must prepare to raise Ula by herself. Even after starting chemotherapy one week after receiving his diagnosis, first scans post-treatment show the lesions on Antanas’s liver to have grown in size and number. The prognosis Antanas was given when starting treatment was one year, now 9 months at the time of this posting.

We’re setting our goal high because the way we see it, we need to raise at least two years of his salary ($80k/yr) to support Grace and Ula, funds to fly in Antanas’s family from Lithuania, plus funding for medical and living expenses for the next coming year. At a time when Antanas should be spending as much time with his family as he can, it’s downright cruel to expect him to be picking up extra shifts to make ends meet - to say nothing of how difficult it is to process the future laid before him.

Cancer treatment is expensive, as is raising a child. If we can come together in support of this family who has done so much to support us, we can help them get through the most painful experience of their lives.

At Ula’s baby shower, Antanas threw his arm around my shoulders and recited the adage: it takes a village to raise a baby. He was so excited for his friends to be part of his baby’s life. Let’s show his family how supportive a village can be!

To anyone who is moved by their story or who has seen either of these two in action, we humbly ask you to donate however much you can, as no amount is too little. We also ask you to share this post and help us get the word out to as many people as possible.

To Grace, Antanas, and Ula, please know that you are loved and that we will do all we can to take care of you.

F*ck cancer.

-Friends of Grace, Antanas, & Ula

Please come to our next Fundraiser hosted by the fine folks at Unapologetic Foods's Dhamaka restaurant in NYC on Monday, August 14th. Book your tickets here!

You can also contribute directly to Grace’s Venmo account:

@kdgracious

https://venmo.com/u/kdgracious