For years, Chris Carillo's voice has filled venues as part of local band Biggah and Bettah, bringing joy to the people of Guam. But today, that voice is fighting to be heard in a different way, through a plea for help. 

For those who may not know him, Chris' wife Ina Carillo said despite his big stature, he's such a big teddy bear.

“He loves his community, he works at Medicaid/Medicare, and he's been serving the people of Guam for 20 years. He's worked behind the scenes at the Legislature, and now at Public Health,” said Ina. “He's helped so many people with fundraisers, I can't tell you have many fundraisers he's played at.”

Ina said it was late last year he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.

“It's unreal things can happen this fast where you can feel totally normal like at our gala in November, having a great time playing music to now where we're here in Manila where we got out of the ICU late last night. He was suffering from liver failure last week,” said Ina. 

Chris was rushed to the ICU last Wednesday after suffering multiple organ failure. Though he has shown signs of improvement, his doctors said his liver is too damaged to recover without a transplant.

Chris is being treated in the Philippines, where he is not eligible to be placed on the transplant list because he is a non-citizen. His family is now racing against time, exploring every possible option to save his life. There was a possible donor, one of Chris' best friends and band mates, Kevin Iwas Hita 

“As the transplant was running tests, they ruled him out because he had some health issues,” Ina added. “They started all the tests on me, they found out right before the incident, my liver was just not enough. It's about 200 grams too small.”

The next possible plan was to do a dual graph where two donors in this case, Ina and her sister would take portions of their liver to create one for Chris.

“The issue now is that they don't have the facility to do it. You have to have 3 or two to do it. Chris would have to go through his surgery and then we would have to go through our surgeries and the timing has to be just right and we would have to do the transplant in Korea but I don't know it’s very very risky,” said Ina. 

The best option for the better outcome would be a single liver donor. 

“The criteria they're looking for is somebody under 60, ideally a male, who is bigger than I am, with a positive blood type on O positive, someone who is fairly healthy, doesn't do any drugs, and a healthy liver that's bigger than I am,” Ina said. “Here in the PI, they only allow transplants for families up to 4 generations.”

However, if the person can show proof of some sort of emotional connection to Chris, it can be approved. 

“Its a long shot but it's our only shot,” she added. 

Reach out to Ina via WhatsApp at (671) 727-5123 to learn more about the process  on how you can be a potential donor!

 A GoFundMe campaign is underway to help cover medical expenses and transplant costs. Just search "Strumming Back to Health: Chris Carillo.”

“We just need help. It's hard to ask. Chris is not the type to ask for help. We're private people. At this point, we have no options. And we're hoping someone in the community with an emotional connection to Chris can help. I don’t know what else to do,” said Ina. 

Every donation, every prayer, every share of his story brings him one step closer to a second chance at life.

“We're so thankful for the prayers, all the messages that are coming in there are so many i havent been able to respond to all of them. I know the community is praying for us, that's all really we can ask to send good vibes and pray,” said Ina. “It’s hard to be in the same room with your husband and ask what could happen.”