WORCESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - The Worcester community is coming together in a show of support for a veteran police officer recently diagnosed with cancer.
Iggy Garcia was recently told he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer and his wife started a GoFundMe to help pay for his expensive medical care.
So far, it has raised more than $60,000 and the Garcia family says they are overwhelmed by people’s generosity.
“Within 24 hours we’ve gotten over $50,000, which is unbelievable,” Garcia’s brother-in-law Nicholas Belsito said.
Garcia also spends his free time coaching sports and mentoring kids in the community.
“Iggy Garcia is not only a first-rate officer, but a first-rate person. I have worked side-by-side with him, coached his son in youth sports, and have had the pleasure of knowing him and his beautiful family for many years. All of Iggy’s brothers and sisters in the Worcester Police Department are ready and willing to do everything in our power to help him beat this terrible disease,” Chief Sargeant of the Worcester Police Department wrote in a statement.
The 17 year veteran of the force will begin treatment at Dana Farber soon.
His family — including his three children — say they’ll be by his side as he undergoes surgery and chemotherapy.
“The love, the support, the messages is incredibly helpful. It’s amazing how that can help and uplift people,” Belsito said. “I think the biggest message he wants to get out there is thank you.”
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