Our friend, Kevin Boyle, started a new adventure late last year when he set out for a job opportunity and new life in San Francisco. Things had been going really well, until he started feeling sick. He went to the ER and scans revealed something unexpected: a mass in one of his kidneys.  Last Tuesday he was officially diagnosed with Clear Cell Renal Carcinoma, a very serious type of cancer. He is scheduled to have surgery in two weeks where they will perform a partial (or if necessary, total) removal of his right kidney. His doctor, Dr. Meng, is hopeful that the cancer cells haven’t yet metastasized and spread to other organs, but they won’t know until surgery. The surgery will involve placing 5 incisions on his belly and operating on him at the UCSF Mission Bay Cancer Center’s Bakar Cancer Hospital.


As he has only been in San Francisco and the new job for only two months, he doesn’t have the sick leave to cover the 6-8 weeks (at a minimum) that he will be out in recovery, so will have no income for that time. And that’s on top of the max out of pocket that he’ll have to cover for his insurance. Costs of tests, labs, surgery, and basic living expenses are expected to be nearly $20,000 assuming that he doesn’t have to be out longer than expected. 

 
If this last year has been tough for you, please send all the healing energy and hope that you can. But if you’re able, please consider helping out by donating as much as you can to help this amazing person through this truly critical time. 

Thank you.