Robert Aviles' Medical Expenses!
Donation protected
UPDATE from the Aviles Family:
We are heartbroken to share that our Dad's battle ended on April 11, 2018. He passed away in his sleep early in the morning due to cardiac arrest.
We were shocked and devastated because he had been feeling great. His energy was good, his treatment was progressing well and he was scheduled to have another CAT scan the next day to check the growth of the tumors.
He and Mom had just returned two days prior from a spring break trip to the East Coast to see Boston, New York and D.C. They had a chance to eat all the good food he was SOOO excited about (clam chowder, cannolis, New York pizza!) and also to visit Sam in her new home in D.C. He came back refreshed and energized, ready to continue tackling his somewhat draining treatment with a new fire.
A celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, April 22 at the gym at Whittier Christian High School at 2 pm. More service details are available here.
We have been blessed by so many people reaching out to ask how they can help us in this tough time. We have left this GoFundMe active because our dad had a lot of outstanding medical bills from his treatment, and every little bit helps.
Words cannot express the depth of our gratitude to everyone who has reached out to our family and gathered around us, caring for us and holding us up as we make it through each day.
Thank you.
-----------------------------
Hello family and friends,
Thank you for the outpouring of support and encouragement our family has received as Robert is battling cancer for the second time. We have been blessed and overwhelmed by the many offers to help, so we are starting this GoFundMe page to provide a platform for helping and a place to keep you all updated.
As many of you know, Robert had kidney cancer three years ago. The last time was a whirlwind of diagnoses, removal of the kidney (as well as some lymph nodes and an adrenal gland) and recovery. The doctors were confident they removed all the cancerous tissues, but have been periodically monitoring Robert ever since. In December of last year, they called us with the devastating news that his remaining kidney had developed cancer. We then developed a plan with our doctors of trying to shrink the tumor and prevent any further spreading, but found out in July that the cancer had metastasized and spread to his pancreas.
The last two months have been an endless parade of doctor appointments to get second (and third) opinions on how to best treat this new bout with cancer and prevent it from spreading further. The options are not good, with the “best case scenario” involving super intense chemo-like treatment that would require Robert to be in the ICU for several rounds of treatment in weeklong intervals. This treatment is really toxic and would be the equivalent of carpet bombing his body to try and kill the cancer, with some really terrible collateral damage. And while kidney cancer is one of the types of cancer this treatment has the best success with, the doctors still only gave us 10% odds of success. Then, if that works, they are wanting to take out his pancreas, spleen and gallbladder for good measure. Needless to say, we were very discouraged by this option and began looking into alternatives outside of the conventional methods suggested by various oncologists. This involved even more appointments and visits to several treatment facilities to see how they would tackle the cancer. We tried every possible avenue to find a more optimal treatment that would be covered by insurance, but nothing we found looked even remotely hopeful.
Ultimately, we decided to try less destructive and potentially more effective treatments just over the border in Mexico. The good news is that there are many different treatments available to us down there that are legal and used with success all over the world but are not legal in the US. The bad news is that this treatment is not covered by insurance and requires at least a three-week stay, adding to the expense.
On Friday, September 29, we’ll begin Robert’s treatment at the Immunity Therapy Center in Tijuana, Mexico. Robert will be in treatment from 8 am to 2:30 pm every day for at least three weeks (with Sundays off) and Denise and Cambria will be going with him to make sure he is able to stay in top shape to fight this cancer. The program will involve immunotherapy treatments, specialized vaccine treatments, nutritional therapy, equipment therapies focused on detoxification and conventional methods including targeted light-dosage chemotherapy. At the end of the three weeks, doctors will evaluate Robert’s progress to see if he needs an additional week of treatment. After that, Robert will have a custom home treatment program to follow with check-ups every three months. The team at Immunity Therapy Center’s goal is to halt tumor growth and shrink it by 50% by the end of three weeks, with the ultimate goal of trying to shrink it even further in the subsequent months. Robert is in such great health (minus the whole cancer part) and feeling great, so we are optimistic and hopeful about the prospect of success. One doctor we visited said that based on his various blood work numbers, Robert was the healthiest cancer patient he has seen in years!
Many of you have asked how you can help us in this fight and we are so thankful. Prayer and financial support are two big ways. This has been difficult for the whole family and we would love for you to join us in praying for successful treatment.
It is also a significant financial burden, as the whole treatment and related expenses will cost around $40,000. We are fortunate to have the ability to finance this, but it will obviously create a financial challenge for our family.
Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support! It means a lot to our family and we are so grateful knowing we are not fighting this alone.
We’ll be providing treatment updates on this page as well as Robert’s social media pages (@rfaviles) over the next few weeks to keep you all in the loop.
Love,
The Aviles Family
Robert, Denise and the kids
We are heartbroken to share that our Dad's battle ended on April 11, 2018. He passed away in his sleep early in the morning due to cardiac arrest.
We were shocked and devastated because he had been feeling great. His energy was good, his treatment was progressing well and he was scheduled to have another CAT scan the next day to check the growth of the tumors.
He and Mom had just returned two days prior from a spring break trip to the East Coast to see Boston, New York and D.C. They had a chance to eat all the good food he was SOOO excited about (clam chowder, cannolis, New York pizza!) and also to visit Sam in her new home in D.C. He came back refreshed and energized, ready to continue tackling his somewhat draining treatment with a new fire.
A celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, April 22 at the gym at Whittier Christian High School at 2 pm. More service details are available here.
We have been blessed by so many people reaching out to ask how they can help us in this tough time. We have left this GoFundMe active because our dad had a lot of outstanding medical bills from his treatment, and every little bit helps.
Words cannot express the depth of our gratitude to everyone who has reached out to our family and gathered around us, caring for us and holding us up as we make it through each day.
Thank you.
-----------------------------
Hello family and friends,
Thank you for the outpouring of support and encouragement our family has received as Robert is battling cancer for the second time. We have been blessed and overwhelmed by the many offers to help, so we are starting this GoFundMe page to provide a platform for helping and a place to keep you all updated.
As many of you know, Robert had kidney cancer three years ago. The last time was a whirlwind of diagnoses, removal of the kidney (as well as some lymph nodes and an adrenal gland) and recovery. The doctors were confident they removed all the cancerous tissues, but have been periodically monitoring Robert ever since. In December of last year, they called us with the devastating news that his remaining kidney had developed cancer. We then developed a plan with our doctors of trying to shrink the tumor and prevent any further spreading, but found out in July that the cancer had metastasized and spread to his pancreas.
The last two months have been an endless parade of doctor appointments to get second (and third) opinions on how to best treat this new bout with cancer and prevent it from spreading further. The options are not good, with the “best case scenario” involving super intense chemo-like treatment that would require Robert to be in the ICU for several rounds of treatment in weeklong intervals. This treatment is really toxic and would be the equivalent of carpet bombing his body to try and kill the cancer, with some really terrible collateral damage. And while kidney cancer is one of the types of cancer this treatment has the best success with, the doctors still only gave us 10% odds of success. Then, if that works, they are wanting to take out his pancreas, spleen and gallbladder for good measure. Needless to say, we were very discouraged by this option and began looking into alternatives outside of the conventional methods suggested by various oncologists. This involved even more appointments and visits to several treatment facilities to see how they would tackle the cancer. We tried every possible avenue to find a more optimal treatment that would be covered by insurance, but nothing we found looked even remotely hopeful.
Ultimately, we decided to try less destructive and potentially more effective treatments just over the border in Mexico. The good news is that there are many different treatments available to us down there that are legal and used with success all over the world but are not legal in the US. The bad news is that this treatment is not covered by insurance and requires at least a three-week stay, adding to the expense.
On Friday, September 29, we’ll begin Robert’s treatment at the Immunity Therapy Center in Tijuana, Mexico. Robert will be in treatment from 8 am to 2:30 pm every day for at least three weeks (with Sundays off) and Denise and Cambria will be going with him to make sure he is able to stay in top shape to fight this cancer. The program will involve immunotherapy treatments, specialized vaccine treatments, nutritional therapy, equipment therapies focused on detoxification and conventional methods including targeted light-dosage chemotherapy. At the end of the three weeks, doctors will evaluate Robert’s progress to see if he needs an additional week of treatment. After that, Robert will have a custom home treatment program to follow with check-ups every three months. The team at Immunity Therapy Center’s goal is to halt tumor growth and shrink it by 50% by the end of three weeks, with the ultimate goal of trying to shrink it even further in the subsequent months. Robert is in such great health (minus the whole cancer part) and feeling great, so we are optimistic and hopeful about the prospect of success. One doctor we visited said that based on his various blood work numbers, Robert was the healthiest cancer patient he has seen in years!
Many of you have asked how you can help us in this fight and we are so thankful. Prayer and financial support are two big ways. This has been difficult for the whole family and we would love for you to join us in praying for successful treatment.
It is also a significant financial burden, as the whole treatment and related expenses will cost around $40,000. We are fortunate to have the ability to finance this, but it will obviously create a financial challenge for our family.
Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support! It means a lot to our family and we are so grateful knowing we are not fighting this alone.
We’ll be providing treatment updates on this page as well as Robert’s social media pages (@rfaviles) over the next few weeks to keep you all in the loop.
Love,
The Aviles Family
Robert, Denise and the kids
Organizer and beneficiary
Zach Underwood
Organizer
Fullerton, CA
Robert Aviles
Beneficiary
