Treatment for Fernando Umaña - Help me save my dad

My dad has given me every opportunity in this life. At the age of 40, he left his career as an anesthesiologist in Colombia and became a nursing assistant in a foreign country. He left his friends, his family, life as he knew it and immigrated to America to give me and my siblings every opportunity in the world. My dad gave us a chance at a new life and now I am hoping to give him the same.

In 2006 my dad was diagnosed with a rare form of endocrine cancer called Pheochromocytoma. This type of cancer affects metabolic hormones resulting in high blood pressure. Left untreated this cancer can severely impact the body, particularly the cardiovascular system. The tumor that appeared on my dad’s abdominal aorta in 2006 was about the size of a small orange. 

Shortly after this first diagnosis, the tumor was removed and for nearly 10 years it seemed like my dad was going to make a healthy recovery.

About 10% of Pheochromocytoma patients result in metastases. In 2017, the cancer had come back and had spread to two different parts of his body. My dad then began radiotherapy, medication for osteoporosis and calcium supplements to try to reduce the tumors in his right 9th rib and his right iliac bone.

The treatment did not take. The tumors have since grown and have continued to spread-- currently there are 16 different cancerous lesions in his body. These lesions are particularly concerning because of their locations: one in the base of the skull, one in the 2nd cervical vertebrae, and two in the lungs. The one on the 9th rib gives him constant pain.

Radiotherapy didn’t work, extra calcium intake didn’t work, and chemotherapy was not going to be an effective treatment for this type of cancer. With little to no hope of a viable treatment for my dad, the future was looking bleak for his survival.

Earlier this year the FDA approved of a new drug called AZEDRA. This is the first medication proven to be effective in treating patients with pheochromocytoma. With the help of Dr. Jimenez at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas there was a beacon of hope for my dad.

In July of this year, my parents made the trip up to Houston and came back with great news. Dr. Jimenez said that with the administration of Azedra, my dad would have a 96% chance of surviving this disease. For the first time in two years there was a moment of relief.

The reason I’m writing this is because the cost of this treatment is a huge toll on my family. Azedra is a life-saving treatment for my dad, without it, his condition will continue to deteriorate and he will most likely not survive the cancer.

The MD Anderson Cancer Center is the only place in the country that oversees the administration of Azedra.

If there were any other options for my father we would pursue them but the fact of the matter is, there is not. Therefore, we pursue this treatment, we pursue saving his life, because without my dad the world is a darker place.

I want my father to beat this disease because he deserves a better quality of life. Anyone who knows my dad knows that he’s an endlessly caring person. As a nurse he cares for his patients so much that they always come back to visit him once they are out of the hospital. He’s won the Daisy award for Extraordinary Nurses two times and has been nominated for nurse of the year three times. When I was four years old and scared to leave Colombia I would hide in a suitcase so no one could find me and take me away to America. My dad would find me weeping in there and would say “Don’t worry you’re going to be ok, we’re going to be ok” and I was, the whole family was. I want so much for that to be true now.

My dad has recently become a citizen of the United States; a country he has come to love so much. Without the money for the treatment, my dad will not survive, he will not get to live out the rest of dreams and I will lose my closest friend. 

Time is running out as the tumors continue to grow. It takes one month to produce the Azedra medication and as more time goes by, the more everything gets delayed.

We have done almost everything we can financially at this time. We will need $50,000 dollars in order to cover this treatment.

So I am asking (in so many words) to please donate to our campaign and help my dad fight this cancer!

 
The video I've posted is an outtake of a short film I was making, before he was diagnosed in 2017.