Husband to Jump in Ocean to Raise Funds for Wife's Stem Cell Transplant

This Sunday, David Garcia and others will be taking a cold water plunge in the freezing waters of Boston to help raise awareness and funding for his wife Briana Connor Garcia’s stem cell transplant and raise awareness for Scleroderma. Briana is originally from Tewksbury where she still has family living. Today, she, her husband and daughter live in Stoneham.

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The plunge will take place in front of Sullivan’s on Castle Island on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 1 p.m. David is challenging donors to help raise money as he gears up for the challenge. If they raise $2,000 he would have jumped in his clothes, $4,000 to jump in a bathing suit and $6,000 in an outfit chosen by those who donate.

David says before he started the event to raise funds for his wife Briana’s full procedure they raised $2,900, but they’ve surpassed that.

“We have now just met our second goal which will be me jumping in in a bathing suit, could be mine could be someone else’s,” he says. “We are hoping to surpass our final goal of $6,000 and I will jump in anything the people choose.”

Briana, 33, was diagnosed with Scleroderma in October of 2012. This disease has taken her from being able to work both full-time and part-time jobs, running her household and taking care of the couple’s 5-year-old daughter Gracelynn, to not being able to do most of what she used to be able to do in a normal day. Scleroderma is a disease that overproduces collagen in your body which causes your skin to harden, your organs to develop scar tissue and have them stop working properly.

“This is heartbreaking and needs to change,” David says. “There is not much research and funding for scleroderma and there is no cure.”

Add to that Briana is in need of a stem cell transplant her insurance company is denying coverage for, which David says costs about $150,000. So “come hell or high water,” David says they are going to get this done for her.

Donations can be made via a Go Fund Me page which as been set up and also includes Briana’s story >>>

Watch Briana’s video below: