Joseph Rodriguez
Joseph Rodriguez was born on November 20, 2010 to mom Yasmina and dad John. Their home is a house full of boys and although Yasmina is outnumbered with three sons and her husband, she keeps everyone and everything on their toes! Joseph is a typical teenage boy in a lot of ways and loves to play game systems like Xbox and Playstation. He has always been very athletic and He has a great sense of humor and is always playing around and making jokes. Joseph has always done well in school and is very smart and musically inclined.
One of Joseph's favorite foods is hamburgers and he and his family just enjoyed their Make-A-Wish trip to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida. It was their first time to visit and they made so many great memories together.
Diagnosis
The first symptoms Joseph's parents noticed were that he had were major headaches, some nosebleeds and he sometimes acted confused. On June 10, 2025 their family's world changed forever when Joseph was diagnosed with DIPG. The world seemed to shift beneath their feet. One day he was their bright, funny, determined boy—cracking jokes, dreaming big—and the next they were sitting in a doctor’s office hearing words that shattered the air around them: midline glioma… mutation. Words no parent should ever have to learn.
​From that moment on, everything changed. Their lives became hospital rooms, treatment schedules, and long nights comforting each other when the fear crept in. But through every test, every IV line, every difficult conversation, Joseph showed a strength that pushed them forward. He was the one reminding them all to breathe, to fight, to keep going.
Joseph's family has battled this diagnosis together—every single one of them. When work became impossible, when they had to choose between being at his side or being anywhere else, the choice was easy. His parents stepped away from everything else so they could stand with him. Their jobs, their routines, their sleep… all of it was replaced with something heavier, something harder, but also something unbreakable: unity.
There were days when the weight felt unbearable, but then Joseph would smile, or crack a joke, or ask how they were doing. And somehow, that gave them the strength to rise again.
This journey has changed them. It has tested them. It has taken things from them. But it has also shown them what real courage looks like—and it lives in their son. No matter how many battles lie ahead, the Rodriguez family will face them side by side, as a family, with love leading every step.
Joseph and his family are facing unimaginable times together as an unbreakable unit and the Archer Foundation is proud to walk beside them as they face the future together.
