Hope for Angel

As you many of you may know, the triplets have a strong passion for sports- especially soccer and football. Just like their older siblings they started playing soccer at a young age. Angel was becoming a very talented goalie and he always looked forward to his next game. Unfortunately, at seven years old, Angel was diagnosed with stage four osteosarcoma (a very rare bone cancer, occurs mostly in children). A tumor he named “Ugly” was attacking his humerus and needed to be surgically removed. Angel’s soccer season was replaced with 32 rounds of chemotherapy and a rod in his right arm. When his chemo treatment ended in February 2, 2019, he was lucky enough to start a clinical trial at UCSF a month later. Very few patients were selected to be part of the trial. The goal was for the antibodies to destroy the bad DNA cells from reproducing. On November 6, 2019, the doctors informed my parents that the treatment was no longer effective. Out of the 200 tumors that are spread in his lungs, three of them have enlarged with the addition of a new tumor (201 tumors in total). The doctors advised us to make as many memories as we can with my baby brother. They only gave my parents two options: start a new chemotherapy treatment that may contain harsh side effects but will give him 6 months to a year of life or let him enjoy his childhood as much as his body can for 2- 6 months if we do not add the chemotherapy. 

Since the day Angel was diagnosed in June of 2018, he has always kept an unbelievably positive energy. He reminds my mom that he is going to win his battle against Ugly. Our only wish is to see him win his fight against cancer so he can return back to school and re- continue to live a normal childhood right next to his triplet brothers. At the moment, you would never guess what Angel is going through. We are beyond blessed that through everything he continues to remain happy and has not shown any current symptoms. We are also thankful for everyone that has reached out to my family and provided their support. We pray to God that he will only restore Angel’s health and heal him. 

 My parents will go above and beyond for all six of their kids, so they sought out for a second opinion and found an alternative treatment. Every 15 days my parents and Angel are required to drive 10 hours away from home in order to receive his alternative treatments. This treatment will be very costly but it is our only hope for Angel. My dad is the only source of income and everyday he works extremely hard to provide for his family of 8, but he will have to sacrifice days from work to be there for his son and wife. No amount is too little, as this will only be possible by using all the support we can get from you and others. Please continue to pray for my brother. We will not give up. 

From the bottom of my heart, my family and I truly appreciate your support.