Ryan Christo

Friends and family, 
The past few weeks have tested our family in more ways than one. Finding the right words has been a struggle, but we're concluding that the right words to relay this news probably simply don't exist. Ryan was diagnosed with cancer at the end of August. Multiple masses were found on Ryan's liver through ultrasound.  The ultrasound was followed up by an MRI that confirmed these findings, along with the biopsy report that specified a diagnosis of Stage 4 (metastatic) pancreatic cancer. 

Since the initial lab work, we've endured countless appointments, tests, blood work, and waiting rooms and have had more sleepless nights than not, but we are leaning on our faith, trusting God, and asking our family, friends, and prayer warriors to join us in bolstering Ryan's spirits and strength as he prepares to fight this battle (and as we prepare to fight alongside him). We want to be clear that we are looking for prayers, not pity. Our mentality is focused and optimistic, and we're determined to beat this together. We know it's an uphill battle, but we also know what Ryan is capable of. We are firm believers that mindset combined with the power of prayer can move mountains.

Ryan is, among many other things, a fighter. And true to form, he has the mindset of a warrior and is hell-bent on tackling this day by day. As he recently told us, "we've been thrown dagger after dagger on this journey so far, and it's time for us to start throwing daggers back at cancer." 

We created this CaringBridge page because we thought it was the easiest way to keep family and friends updated in one place, instead of making individual phone calls each time there's an update or a new development. Please know we will be posting all updates here. If you haven't already, you can click the "Follow" button at the top of the page to be alerted via email when we post an update. Thank you all for your support, prayers, and words of encouragement. It means more than you know. 

This is a "story" we hoped would never be ours. It's something we hoped we'd never have to face, but life is unpredictable and full of twists, turns, highs, and lows, and we're prepared to fight through it with faith, perseverance, and optimism. My brother Alex put it best: Our family prays hard, fights hard, and parties hard. First, we'll pray hard. Then, we'll fight hard, and when we beat this, we'll party!

"There is power in persistent prayer." -Micah 7:7