We wanted to share a touching story about about a young man named Chago and how his illness has brought together the lowrider community. The story below is from a web site called Chago's Dream. The site was put together by the many kind people of Lay It Low. Here is Chago's story:

Santiago "Chago" Hernandez was born in Juchipila, Zacatecas, Mexico on October 3, 1984. He was raised there with his grandmother until he was 9 years old, then moved to Salinas, California with his mother, stepfather, two half brothers and half sister.

He has always loved drawing since childhood, but it wasn't until he was about 14 years of age that he fell in love with the lowrider lifestyle. At age 19, he got a job at a body shop as a body-man and painter, where he had just started to learn the art of murals before he became ill. Chago lives and breathes lowrider cars. His most recent hobby was working on his own lowrider; his biggest dream. But, last year his dream started to fall apart. Chago started experiencing excruciating back pains that would literally make him roll over in pain. Then came the headaches, the pain in his jaw, the bleeding of his gums and vomiting up blood. He was spilling blood from everywhere and no one had an answer for why. Chago had seen a doctor but, as always the process of the tests takes a long time and when he was finally diagnosed it was already at its worst.

In October 2004, the family was told it was leukemia and Chago immediately started receiving chemotherapy treatment. The cancer was in remission for the moment, but returned in full force. Chago continued receiving spinal taps and the final one was the bad one. He is currently paralyzed from the waist down and is bedridden.

Just recently he started experiencing blurred vision in his left eye and double vision in his right eye, along with trouble breathing. He was given an oxygen mask, but with the therapy treatment he has started to breathe on his own. More tests have been taken and it now shows that Chago has a cancerous brain tumor behind his left eye. He wears a patch over it because of the pressure of the tumor; his eye is being pushed out of the socket.

Chago has now been in the UCSF hospital for seven months and it has taken its toll on him. Chago has told his aunt that he was very lonely, angry and hated being sick. He said he had never got calls or visitors, until just recently. The lowrider community has pulled together to make Chago's dream come true. Many shops and individual builders have/are donating their time to complete the project Chago started (a 1979 Cadillac - Chop top) when he became ill.

Thank you all in advance for your assistance in any way, this soft voiced young man has touched the hearts of many custom car enthusiasts worldwide. Just last week he had no visitors, no phone calls and wanted to give up the fight. Today he is looking forward to each new day, to see his next visitor and receive his next phone call, but most of all to "hit the switches" of his dream lowrider.

Contact Chago

Chago would welcome a visit (call beforehand), or any encouragement, including if you'd like to send a card, flowers, etc.

UCSF MEDICAL CENTER
505 PARNASSUS AVE
ROOM L762
SAN FRANCISCO,CA 94143

Phone: 1-415-353-8176

We at Eternal Rollerz C.C. Thank all the kind and caring people who are helping make Chago's dream come true.

Stop by the website for more about Chago, the project, and how you can help this young man.

WWW.CHAGOSDREAM.COM