Yuman to celebrate one more year of life

A Yuma man with a terminal heart disease will be marking another year of life with a day-long celebration Saturday.

Family and friends invite the community to help fete Francisco “Cisco” Aispuro, a soon-to-be 22-year-old, at Z Fun Factory, 4446 E. County 10th St., from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The “Heart of Cisco” celebration will feature silent auctions, raffles, Zumba for adults and kids, boxing demos by Yuma Fight Academy and mini-golf and air hockey tournaments with prizes.

Participants of the air hockey tournament will have a chance to win a kid-sized air hockey table, with prizes awarded to the first-, second- and third-place winners. The cost to participate is $5.

The mini-golf tournament will also have prizes for first, second and third place.

The auction/raffles will include a season pass to Waylon's Water World with a $175 value.

Also in honor of February Heart Month, Yuma Regional Medical Center will have a heart health information booth.

Guests are invited to enjoy lunch and/or dinner while helping “Cisco” raise funds for medical expenses. Z Fun Factory will donate 5 percent of all food sales to the fund. Drink specials will be available.

Attendees are encouraged to wear their Heart of Cisco shirts, which will be available for sale at the event.

Aispuro's family and friends have been organizing various events, including car washes, yard sales, selling T-shirts and hosting restaurant takeovers, to help raise money to cover medical expenses.

Aispuro was born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that runs in his family. His father died from the same condition at the age of 27.

“Since we know that this condition will at some point result in the need of a heart transplant, at least in this family's case, any monies raised that exceed the cost of current medical bills and those to incur in the near future, will remain in the savings account to make sure that we are able to cover the cost of the transplant when that time comes,” his mother Darci Peralta said.

His heart should be examined every six months, but Aispuro lost his state insurance when he turned 18. It has been three years since he had his heart checked. He can't afford the checkups, which include EKGs, echograms and other pricey exams that cost thousands of dollars.

Aispuro, who works at an audio store, buys his medication in Mexico, but it hasn't been adjusted in three years.

Peralta has set up a fundraising account at Indiegogo.com/HeartOfCisco. The campaign runs through the end of April.

In addition, an account has been set up at Bank of America. Donations can be made to account number 457022669072 at any branch.

For more details regarding the event, please go to http://https//www.facebook.com/events/636039733088751/. To follow Aispuro's journey, go to www.facebook.com/Heartofcisco.

For more information, call Darci Peralta at (928) 919-5031, Tonya Tacker at (928) 503-4328 or Luz Martinez at (928) 388-9944.