A Community Coming Together for a boy named Zen

Supporting a Family

One of our main missions at Family Grounds Cafe is to be a staple in our community as we seek opportunities to impact our neighborhood/city.  We have a very specific family whose story grips our hearts.   We are reaching out to you in hopes that you also are seeking to make an impact in your community and might consider making a donation to this local family. 

Carlos and Kris are our neighbors, friends, and customers of Family Grounds Café.  Both are teachers at local Chicago schools (Lakeview High school and Latin).  Their 4 year old twins Zen and Solstice were eager for kindergarten this fall.   As Kris and Carlos prepared to finish the school year before enjoying the summer with their kids, they received devastating news.  On a Sunday night in June, after a weekend of fun,  Zen had blood in his urine.  On Monday morning an ultrasound showed that he had a massive tumor on his kidney.  Zen was diagnosed with the very rare form of cancer “Wilms“.  On Tuesday, Zen’s kidney was removed and it was discovered that the cancer had spread to Zen’s lungs and an artery to his heart and was already at stage 4/5 (virtually unheard of with this type of cancer).  Zen is currently undergoing radiation and a 28 week chemo treatment.  Carlos and Kris’s world turned upside down instantly, literally a parent’s worst nightmare.  Their summer will now be spent caring for their son in a way they had never envisioned.  They have enough on their minds in regards to treating/caring for Zen as well as parenting their daughter Solstice through this tremendously difficult time.  Now the medical bills are starting to come in and it’s scary.  To paraphrase Kris’ own words “Here I have been thinking of how to save for college, and now all I can think of is shelling out everything we have and more in the hopes of saving our son’s life.”

Some of you may know Kris and Carlos personally.  For those of you who think you have no connection… if you come to Family Grounds Cafe and your kids play with our recently added second train table, they are playing with Zen’s train table.  Zen’s family donated this great gift to us after seeing what a hit our first train table was!

Chicago is definitely a big city, but the people that live in it and care for their neighborhoods give it that special unique flavor that is so special to us.  We hope to emulate a small town feel by rallying around a family in need.  You don’t have to know this family to want to support them.  You simply need to be a parent, grandparent, relative or friend of a young child to know that this family is experiencing a very painful and hard process of hoping and praying that their young son will live.  If your heart is moved toward financially showing your support please click here to read more about their story, see pictures, and click on the "giving angels" button to make a financial donation. 

We will be seeking other ways to support this family; a fundraiser is in the works.  If you are interested in donating anything (service/product) to a silent auction or raffle please email us as we gather ideas. 

Thank you for your compassion and for helping us to support this special family.   Please forward this story on to others that may be interested in donating to Zen’s family.