DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Daytona Beach Police officer is in the fight of his life and still working through it.
- Nick Gurucharri has stage 3 colon cancer
- A GoFundMe has been set up to help with his medical bills
Officer Nick Gurucharri is battling stage 3 colon cancer, but he is used to juggling a lot of things.
"I work full time here as a police officer I've been for 12 years," Gurucharri said.
However, he also works part time in racing.
"I also subcontract in motorsports as a mechanic," said the single father of two girls.
So far, he says he has always handled it all on his own.
"I've never been the type of person that's had to ask for help in my entire life," he said. "You know all I did was go in for what I thought would be a routine checkup, and now I'm sitting in a room alone being told that there's a probability that I have cancer."
Gurucharri got the diagnosis on April 30; a diagnosis usually reserved for men older than a healthy 36 year old.
Because of the cancer, he had to cut back on his racing job and extra details at the police department, which is a sizable part of his income.
Gurucharri quickly realized he could not do it on his own. However, he never had to, because the people around him quickly stepped up.
"The incredible network of friends and family has just exploded into people reaching out saying hey what do you need," Gurucharri explained.
His father came up to stay with them from Miami to help.
And his police family and people in the Daytona Beach community have already raised thousands of dollars to help him through a GoFundMe page.
In addition, they plan to raise thousands more to help cover his medical costs at a fundraiser at the Planet Smoothie in Daytona Beach next Wednesday.
This is all to help him keep his most important job of all: being there for his girls.