Help James raise money

I am dedicating my run to Daniel Caycho.  He was my niece's husband, who died December 21 from a "rare" and "aggressive" colon cancer.  Daniel and Melinda were married for 13 years and had three beautiful children, Antonio 9, Ciela 7, and Francesca 5.  Below is an exert from Melinda's story of her journey through their ordeal.

 Posted Oct 28, 2021 by Melinda Caycho

Good evening, sorry it's been a while. This update will make up for the several quiet days you've had from us, I promise...

We've had some great moments, but it's been a little rough lately. Today is a heavy day emotional for me personally.

Today is October 28th, the date forever burned in my brain...
Why?

It has been 365 days since Daniel first had fever and abdominal discomfort. I'd find out later that he had occasional blood in his stool, although not enough to alarm him...

We were sure it was Covid. We had all been in direct contact with a positive child. We all got tested. It wasn't. Oh, how I wish it was...

We were sure it was food poisoning. Eating two day-old Popeye's Chicken is a definite wish to feel sick. It wasn't. Oh, how I wish it was...

The fevers and abdominal discomfort continued...We were sure it was an infection from dental work done in November. It wasn't. Oh, how I wish it was...

We made a doctor's appointment with a primary doctor. Google and family history told us it was definitely his gallbladder. His brother and sister had theirs removed at the same age. It was Daniel's turn now. It wasn't. Oh, how I wish it was...

On December 2, 2020, an ultrasound showed Daniel had "an innumerable amount of lesions/tumors on the liver".

We were hoping with the doctor it was an infection that could be easily cured with IV antibiotics in the hospital. It wasn't. Oh, how I wish it was...

On December 4, 2020, an MRI showed there were in fact tumors ALL throughout the liver. The doctor regrettably told us it is CANCER and is SECONDARY to a PRIMARY cancer somewhere else in his body.

We were sure this was the worse news we could have ever heard. It wasn't. Oh, how I wish it was...

On December 6, 2020 a CT Scan confirmed the primary cancer is in the colon. A quick Google search will tell you combined with the liver tumors that he is Stage 4 and it's not good.

We were sure the news couldn't get any worse. It did. Oh, how I wish it didn't...

Results from his first liver tumor biopsy came back mid-December. We prayed it was a common cancer, one that could be easily treated. It wasn't. It was MIXED. TWO different types of cancer. RARE cancer. AGGRESSIVE cancer.

How?! Why?! What do we do?! We have 3 babies! At the time they were only 4, 6, and 8. How are we supposed to do this?! They need their dad!

Cancer... just the word burns my throat and sears my lips as I say it. What an ugly word.

Daniel is my world. We met the summer of 2004 as we started working at Cabana, a brand new Latin restaurant in Delray. I was 17, he was 22. He chased me for a year before we finally started dating. We got married January 31, 2009 ...almost 13 years ago...Daniel has been fighting so hard since December 2020. As soon as we found out we changed his diet completely- no sugar, no meat, no processed foods. Too little, too late.

The cancer has the upper hand in this. Somehow this monster within has been lurking in the shadows around us for a few years. What an invasion of privacy. We didn't invite this "guest". We don't want it living among us. Eating at our table, sleeping in our bed- yet we have no way to evict it from our home.

We were told from the beginning that this cancer is "incurable", yet when Daniel has really good days it's easy to forget. Lately, it's been hard to hide from the inevitable. There is an imaginary scale we use to weigh good moments vs bad moments. If the bad moments outweigh the good we know it's time to stop treatment.

When you sign up for treatment you already know that it will damage your body... when your body hasn't had a break from treatment in 10 months it's hard to heal and continue with treatment.

Daniel weighed in at 126.5lb on 10/26/21, I'm sure he's less now. We're trying, he's trying to eat more, but it's been a constant battle. He does eat, but it's an uphill battle.

His Ferritin is 1634, super high. This would indicate his iron is high, but it's not. My understanding is that this number indicates liver damage.
At this point the chemo is doing more damage than the cancer to his body. 

If you wish to donate to the family's GoFundMe page, here is the link:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-daniel-caycho-and-family?utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&utm_medium=social&utm_source=whatsApp