Help Antonio Fight Cancer

Hi, my name is Nicole Ortiz, and I am organizing this fundraiser for my youngest brother Antonio Ortiz.

Antonio is a great kid, and the best little brother anyone could ask for. He is hardworking, loving, strong, caring, smart and ambitious. He is 23 years old, and has always been very fit, healthy and active. He was working full time in my business, Crave, helping me run a food truck and restaurant. He has been there since day 1, and is my right hand man. He always does whatever it takes to keep the business running.

Antonio started to get back pain back in November of 2023. We all didn’t think too much of it, as his job is very labor intensive, and he was putting in a lot of hours. As the weeks passed, the pain got worse and more often. Soon after, he experienced hematuria (blood in urine). This was alarming, and he decided to get checked out at urgent care. After antibiotics, the pain and hematuria was still occurring. He spent countless hours in emergency rooms just looking for answers. He also lost a lot of weight in a short period of time.

Of course, Google became our best friend and worst enemy in this time period. The only illness that would come up matching all of his symptoms, was Renal Medullary Carcinoma (RMC). But, how could a healthy 23 year old have a cancer that is very rare and very aggressive?

Finally, an MRI was ordered and an abnormal mass was shown in the imaging. A biopsy was then ordered to rule out cancer.

On 1/19/24, our whole lives turned upside down. The biopsy came back as cancer. To be specific, Renal Medullary Carcinoma (RMC).

About RMC:

Renal medullary carcinoma, or RMC, is a rare yet aggressive type of kidney cancer. It usually affects young people -- mostly those who have sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait and have African ethnicity. But it can affect you even if you don’t have the disease or the trait.

The most common type of kidney cancer is renal cell carcinoma. RMC is a type of renal cell carcinoma. Less than 1% of all renal cell carcinoma cases are classified as RMC.

One study reports an average survival time of 13 months. Other studies have shown longer survival with different treatments. Because the cancer is rare, there aren’t as many studies on it compared to other types of cancer. A lot of the knowledge is based on trying to connect the dots from individual cases.

By the time most people are diagnosed, the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or other organs.

Since diagnoses, Antonio has gone through several more tests. MRIs, PET scan, CT scans, ultrasounds, blood tests, etc. He has also been diagnosed with pancreatitis. This has caused him serious pain and loss of appetite due to the pain.

We were referred to Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. This is a 1.5 hour drive for us, but we know they are the best.

We traveled to Dana Farber on Monday, 1/29/24 to receive the PET scan results to see if the cancer had spread, and to discuss treatment. On this day, Antonio was visibly jaundiced and in a lot of pain. Blood tests were ran before we could go home, because him being jaundice didn’t make sense. It came back that he was STILL battling pancreatitis after about a week, and his blood levels associated with the liver were extremely high. His pain got even more intense, and unbearable for him. He was then admitted to the Dana Farber Cancer unit at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. He has been in the hospital ever since, as they can’t figure out what is going on with his pancreas and his liver. He has had to be on a no food no liquid diet for several days now, and there has been no change to his condition. Surgery and another biopsy is planned to treat this, but for now we are just waiting for answers. His pain has became more manageable with medication, luckily.

The plan to beat this cancer is to start chemotherapy as soon as possible, and to shrink the tumors in the areas the cancer may have spread to. Once the tumors are small enough, a total nephrectomy (removal of kidney) will be performed to eliminate the origin of the cancer.

As you can imagine, this is a huge financial burden for our family. Between hospital bills and all of the tests, Antonio’s bills since he is unable to work, gas traveling back and forth to Boston, hotels, etc. it has become very expensive. Money can not be a barrier from us giving Antonio the chance to beat this horrible disease.

We will continue to post updates here, as we receive them.

Please pray for Antonio and our family, and any donation would be greatly appreciated.