Donor Story

Dana Farber Recognizes $1 Million in KCA Research Support

Donor Story, KCA, Research

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston, Massachusetts recently recognized the Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) for supporting researchers at the institution with over $1 million in funding. KCA’s name was placed on the DFCI’s Benefactors Wall, located on the third floor of the DFCI's Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. “We are so pleased to honor KCA’s tremendous support of kidney…

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Hector Perez's kidney cancer journey

Donor Story, Patient Stories

This is a guest post by Hector Perez, a KCA Ambassador. It’s been 12 years since I was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). There are still several nodules; however, they are under control and to this day I continue to lead a normal life and work. Right now, I am on Cabometyx 20 mg, but it took a long…

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Rachel bakes to support others with kidney cancer, like her

Donor Story, Patient Stories

This is a guest post by Rachel O'Leary. Rachel O'Leary frosts bundt cakes for her Kidney Cancer Awareness Month fundraiser. In March of 2022 I was going to see my orthopedist for chronic lower back pain that I had been having on my right side. This is pain I had been experiencing for about six months at this point, but…

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With their first fundraiser, Familia Viclera focuses on kidney cancer

Donor Story, Patient Stories

Richard “Rick Rock” Rodriguez spent years keeping the mass on his kidney a secret. A motorcycle accident uncovered the mass through a CT scan. Over the next two years, the mass grew significantly and Rodriguez had surgery in 2022 to remove the kidney. https://www.www.kidneycancer.org/just-diagnosed/ “I didn’t even know I had kidney cancer until after they removed my kidney,” he said.…

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Maggie and Brandon’s mission to fund rare kidney cancer research

Donor Story, Patient Stories

This is a guest post by Maggie Valdes, 26, a New Orleans native living in Houston, Texas. After living in Dallas for four years, I made the decision last May to move down to Houston to be closer to my boyfriend, Brandon Butera. What weird timing this was. A few months after I moved, Brandon started experiencing severe pain in…

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Heather Colby’s fitness classes rock out for kidney cancer

Donor Story, Patient Stories

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, Heather Colby, a fitness instructor, took her POUND exercise classes outside, starting with about 10 people in a local park where she lives in Long Island, New York. It was a welcome break for her class to get moving and do something social safely. From left, Elyn, Heather, and Meagan with their son Caleb. “Some…

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Ashley runs for “Redz”, her punk rock dad

Donor Story, Patient Stories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FCPnYXprtA Gears song "Don't Be Afraid to Pogo" off their 1980 studio album is also the name of their 2015 feature length documentary telling the story of the band. In Ashley Anderson’s home, punk rock was the soundtrack of family life. That was thanks to Ashley’s father, Brian “Redz” Anderson, a member of The Gears who were “one of the…

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Sarah helps others reduce stress through joy

Donor Story, Patient Stories

Sarah Rosner described her father Stanley as “a girl dad, for sure.” As a kid, they would go to the movies together and play card games. When Sarah moved to Chicago as an adult, Stanley would drive in from their family home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to visit and go to the zoo or out to lunch for dedicated father-daughter time.…

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Decades of kidney cancer research support

Donor Story, Patient Stories

John Fudala and Barbara Gerzonich came together over food and science. John Fudala's Health Department ID photo, taken before his illness took hold. Photo courtesy of Barbara Gerzonich. They both worked in public health – on the same floor of the same food safety office in New York state. John specialized in tracking foodborne outbreaks while Barbara focused on food…

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Michele’s #orangestacksforkidneycancer takes off on Instagram

Donor Story, Patient Stories

 Early in July, stacks of orange-colored books began popping up on Instagram. Michele Voss, a book lover whose Instagram account is devoted to what she’s been reading, wanted to do something special to honor her husband, Ted Voss, who had kidney cancer and died in 2018.  “I had been thinking about it for a while. People post [pictures of] book…

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