Community rallies to support family facing cancer diagnosis

Last week, a young Greybull father, Santiago Cisneros, was rushed to the emergency room after becoming seriously ill. 

Cisneros was transferred to the Inpatient Cancer Care unit in Billings, where doctors found a grapefruit-sized tumor between his heart and lungs. 

According to a GoFundMe organized by brother-in-law Derik Henderson, Cisneros developed a dangerous fluid buildup around his lungs, leading to emergency surgery to relieve the pressure and place drains. 

Testing revealed Cisneros had Acute Myeloid Leukemia, an aggressive cancer that affects blood cells forming in the bone marrow. An update to the campaign on Monday relayed that Cisneros has begun chemotherapy with Cytarabine and been moved to the ICU to monitor for respiratory complications. 

“I never thought we’d be here in this situation and I would never wish this on anyone,” wife Jessi (Wamhoff) Cisneros wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “It’s all happening so fast, I know Santiago is going to be okay, he is strong and has so much support behind him and prayers coming his way.”

Santiago, the owner of Bighorn Auto and Diesel LLC, shared that the business will not be operating until he is back to work.

Over 100 individual donations had been made to the local family’s GoFundMe campaign as of Tuesday, raising $23,000 for medical expenses. A donations account has also been set up at Security State Bank under the name “Santiago Cisneros Donations.”

Their GoFundMe is available at gofundme.com/f/support-santiagos-fight-against-aml.

Silver Spur Saloon will host a 50/50 Raffle, Poker Run, and Cornhole tournament to benefit the Cisneros family on May 31, with more information to come. 

“Santiago, his wife Jessi, and their baby girl Quinn are facing an unimaginably difficult journey,” Henderson wrote in the GoFundMe campaign. 

“Any support you can offer to ease the burden of overwhelming medical costs is deeply appreciated. Most importantly, we ask for your continued prayers and love during this time.”