This could be his last chance ❤️

This is my husband, Rafael. He is a 43 year old dad of two who is the love of our lives. He was the dad who would paint his nails with our daughter, let my son use him as a practice dummy for football, do the carpools, and be the dad that was a listener. He would be the guy who everyone would come to because he had a good listening ear, never judged a soul, and loved you for who you were, where you were in your life. He never missed a swim meet, football game, track meet, or band concert. And he was is my rock. My heart. My soulmate. He loves me for my flaws and never once tried to “fix” me. He embraces who I am and steadies me when I need it.

January of 2022, he was admitted to the hospital. By February, he was diagnosed with primary CNS lymphoma. It is the rarest of the rare brain cancers. He was intubated, trached, had an intercranial bolt in his head monitoring pressures, placed in a coma, and cooled to 91 degrees. Many nights we were called to the bedside, told tonight was the night we would have to say good bye. Fast forward to June and 8 chemo cycles later. His scan looked nearly clear! We thought we were doing well! He was talking, making sense, and even moving his right side again! After being home for a week (for the first time in 6 1/2 months), something started to go wrong. By the following week, he was noticeably “off”. He came into oncology on an emergent appt that week and the MRI’s were devastating. Not only had the cancer returned, but it was far worse than the initial presentation, including now a 5+ cm tumor in the center of his brain. His cancer was chemo-resistant and we didn’t find out until after the chemo finished. He is getting Pallative radiation currently, but his only hope for any survival beyond a few months is CAR-T therapy. This type of therapy is only being done in a clinical trial in Boston. CAR-T is being done for secondary CNS lymphoma, but not primary CNS lymphoma. We live in Pittsburgh. I am working 3 jobs to keep us alive. I need help. I need financial resources to be able to take some time off to take him to Boston, to be with him, and to give him the opportunity to just have one more Christmas with us. My kids are 15 and 14. My husband is the light of their lives. My daughter looks to him as she is approaching the blocks before every race. She feels the void without his presence. We just want him to see one more swim meet, one for football game, be there for one for birthday. He is the heart of our family. Please consider donating so we can get him to Boston and give him that one last chance. Thank you for taking the time to read our story.