Raymond Dejillas

Raymond was born on November 28th to his mom Marylou and dad Alex. He later became the best big brother to his little sister Francisca.

Raymond is a guy who loves life. He likes to spend his time going on trips with family, watching UFC fight nights with his friends, going out to his favorite restaurant, JP Fusion. (He always gets the chicken curry). His favorite trip ever is a toss up between Hawaii and Japan. Music-wise, he loves Bruno Mars as far as pop music, but his favorite genre is probably Hawaiian reggae. Aside from soccer, which was his favorite sport, he also loved tennis, pickleball, and ping pong to name a few.

Outside of spending time with family, there is nothing he loves more than playing soccer. Health is incredibly important to him; it has always been quite amazing how disciplined he can be with the things that mean the most to him. Even now, he works out every day however he can. He is an all-star physical therapy patient! He is also a sneakerhead, through and through. On top of that, he loves collecting colognes and is big into fashion in general. He has great taste in clothes, and his mom and dad often go to him for advice when they aren't sure if something matches. More than anything, he is a loyal and compassionate friend. He cares deeply about how others are feeling and looks to lift people up always. He was the most well-liked player on pretty much any soccer team he played for. He won a best teammate award for one of his teams, and the votes were unanimous.

Diagnosis

In late January of 2025, Ray started to get dizzy playing soccer. His primary care physician couldn't really peg a diagnosis, and was worried that it could be either brain or heart related, so he ordered tests. Eventually, they got an MRI. In early March is when the Desillas found out there was a tumor in Raymond's brain stem. They still had no clue what DIPG was. They found out what it was by the end of March after meeting with his oncology team from Stanford Children's Hospital. They called no more than a couple days after his PCP made the referral. Reflecting on his diagnosis his family feels that a lot of things could have gone much worse. Ray could have not told his parents about the dizziness, his PCP could have chalked it up to vertigo or something and not had further testing done, he could have had to wait over a month for an MRI (he got in soon because there was a cancellation). So many things could have gone differently and they feel that they may not have caught the tumor as soon as they did. His mom and dad will never forget the attention and care that Stanford gave him. His team included Dr. Campen, Andrea Wassink, Michelle and Chelsea (social worker). Raymond now goes to UCSF due to his current clinical trial being done there. Although they have not been there long, but they've been incredibly supportive as well. Allie, their current social worker, connected us to the Archer Foundation. Raymond's family is sharing their story because they believe that with enough exposure, funding, and advocacy, a cure is possible.

In their own words, "Our hearts break every day; there is an ache that simply doesn't go away having to watch Raymond face this cancer head on the way he has. At the same time, we are so incredibly grateful of the time we are getting to spend with our son because of treatments, his doctors, and generous foundations like the Archer Foundation who know first hand what it's like to go through this. We've never been alone in our fight."

Raymond and his family have an incredible outlook that helps carry them through challenging days and the Archer Foundation is proud to support them through this journey.