Josefino’s fight against cancer

Hello, my name is Jan, and I am here to make a fundraiser on behalf of my father, Josefino Francisco, who is currently battling both throat and liver cancer.

My father Josefino, who is currently 53 years old, is a hardworking, non-smoking and a God-fearing and loving father of 3 children, Jana Camilla (eldest of us 3), Jan Henrik(Me) and Jan Kyle(my youngest brother), and a very loving husband to my mother Maria Luz. He was an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) working in Abu Dhabi, UAE before all this had happened.

It all started in 2015, when a small lump began to appear on the left side of his neck (as seen on the photo above, taken in 2015 as well). He went to their company clinic to have it checked out, and he was immediately released because they thought it was something. In 2016, the lump suddenly got bigger, and he went back to a hospital to have it checked. We already feared that this was cancerous, so took the biopsy test through needle aspiration on the lump. The result was non-malignant at that time, so we overlooked this again because of the result of the biopsy. In 2017, the lump became so much larger, and his throat began to form wounds filled with pus and his lump started to get in the way of his throat, and he had a very hard time eating, up until this day. he went back again to the hospital, and they diagnosed this as tonsillitis. 1 week later, the medicine given didn't have any effect at all on his throat, and we already feared the worst. We let him have biopsy again, but this time, tissue sample was taken inside his throat, and a week later after his biopsy, they found out that the cells were already cancerous.

2 days later, he arrived in the Philippines and was immediately rushed to the hospital. There, they ran lab tests on him, and we found out that he already has a STAGE 4 THROAT CANCER. But the bad news didn't end there. The doctor found out that that something was wrong with the levels of chemical released by his liver (I forgot the name sorry), and so he underwent ultrasound, and there they saw a lot of big-sized tumors forming not only on the liver, but also on the neighboring organs. he also had another biopsy, this time in the liver area, and when the results came in, he was diagnosed of a STAGE 4 METASTATIC LIVER CANCER.

This was all a bitter pill to swallow for all of us. Everytime I see my father laying on our bed, I am in great pain to see him suffer like this. Due to his throat closing up AND being wounded and filled with pus, he cannot eat anything solid anymore, and he is also having a very hard time intaking liquid nutrients as well. Because of this, he lost weight from 70 kg to 55 kg, and recently, we had to install a Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), which is a tube connected directly to his stomach used for feeding, just to keep him healthy and alive. We don't want to lose him yet, and he still wants to fight this out. But the problem currently is: expenses. My father was the only breadwinner of our family; my sister just recently graduated from college, I'm still an incoming 3rd year college student, my younger brother is still in Gr. 12, and my mother dedicated herself in taking care of my father. This is where I come in to ask help from you guys. Any amount will be a GREAT help for our family, and it will help my father fight this evil and disastrous life-destroying disease called cancer.

With your help, we could:

• Help my father live longer, or possibly defeat and destroy cancer
• Help my father reach to the point that he could see me graduate from college
• Possibly, see my younger brother graduate from college as well

Help us in our grueling fight against cancer!

- The Francisco Family