A Los Angeles family has been left absolutely shattered after a doting mother and father were diagnosed with stage four cancer just weeks apart.
Laura Tomelloso, a retired officer for the US Department of Justice, underwent a colonoscopy in February which eventually confirmed that she had Stage 4 colon cancer. The cancer then sadly metastasized into ovarian cancer.
Needless to say, the news devastated the family as her husband, Mike, and sons, Mike Jr., 14, and Matthew, 10, did their best to cope with the awful prognosis.
Some weeks later, Mike - a Los Angeles police officer - became ill, having developed two swollen lymph nodes in his throat. Then, by some horrific coincidence, a biopsy confirmed that the dad had Stage 4 throat cancer.
“It’s devastating,” Carrie Cellini, a family friend, told KNBC. “Going through that to find out your spouse is also going to be dealing with that.”
It has been reported that the pair refused to seek help until their state worsened. Their youngest son reportedly has special needs and is homeschooled. The youngster had worked with horses as a part of his therapy but can no longer attend the therapy sessions due to his parent's deteriorating health.
“Knowing what type of person he is and a family man, he was a Marine and he’s been a police officer for over 25 years and been married over 25 years to his wife,” officer Bryce Verna told KABC of Mike, who has had to stop working. “And to actually — not one person, but two people go through that — it’s pretty much lottery odds.
"[We hope to] make it as easy as possible for them to function and worry about their treatment and their health, rather than the money aspect of it," Verna continued.
“During their battle with cancer, which consists of ongoing medical treatments, surgeries and hospitalizations, they have an exhausted challenge in completing simple tasks,” the LAPD said in a statement, per the Daily Mail.
"They have been relying on friends, neighbors and church members in making life less challenging with their daily tasks and making their medical appointments, and to make Mike Jr. and Matthew's childhood as positive as possible," the statement continued.
The LAPD has set up a Blue Ribbon trust fund account to help raise money for the family during what is understandably an incredibly difficult period in their lives.
“It’s been hard,” Cellini told KTLA. “They’re both down. So, neither of them can really do anything.”
