Patient Stories

Frances Mora's kidney cancer journey

Patient Stories

This is a guest post by Frances Mora, 39. Frances lives in Miami. We are quickly approaching the one-year mark, when I received the shock of a lifetime. I had just given birth to my son and I was trying to get back on track with my fitness journey. After a friend told me about wood therapy and how it…

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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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Mary's Clinical Trial Decision

Patient Stories

By D’Ann George, PhD, Medical Writer https://www.kidneycancer.org/stories/clinical-trials-irb/ Mary Ferrara Naimo remembers the day when her oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Chung-Han Lee, talked to her and her husband, Al, about a clinical trial for a novel therapy in kidney cancer. After their discussion, Dr. Lee left the couple alone to decide whether or not Naimo should enroll.…

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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.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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Scott and Sherri’s Kidney Cancer Journey

Patient Stories

This is a guest post by Scott LeVeck. My name is Scott, I’m 54. My wife, Sherri, passed on July 25, 2022. She was also 54. And this is our journey. Scott and Sherri in their first grade class photo. Sherri and I have known each other since we were kids in school. In fact, Sherri is standing directly in…

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Don Hoff, the “Happy Man in a Village”

Patient Stories

This is a guest post by Susan Hoff-Angelin. https://www.kidneycancer.org/kidney-cancer-types/ My late husband, Don Hoff, was larger than life. He loved life and lived it to its full extent, so when we found out he had stage IV kidney cancer in 2009, he was determined to not let it change the person he was. He never asked, "why me" and never…

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Brain Metastasis: Recognizing Symptoms Early Can Help

Patient Stories, Research

By D’Ann George, PhD, Medical Writer Standing on the bank of a waterway that winds through French Cajun Country in Louisiana, Keith Thibodeaux felt such intense vertigo, he feared he might fall into the water. His first impulse was to deny what he was experiencing. Since his clear cell, renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) diagnosis and nephrectomy in 2020, Thibodeaux had…

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Bone Metastases: How Bone Pain Helps In Kidney Cancer Treatment

Patient Stories, Research

By D’Ann George, PhD, Medical Writer Marie Langhorne, center, with her daughters. When Marie Langhorne first felt pain in her right leg, in the fall of 2018, she was sitting in her office at Catawba College, in Salisbury, NC, where she has taught French since moving to North Carolina from New Orleans. Growing up in Normandy, France, Langhorne says she…

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Mike Greene’s kidney cancer journey

Patient Stories

Mike Greene, 70, has been working in construction since he was 20 years old. As an industry veteran with his own North Carolina-based business since 1972, he has a practical approach towards problem solving. Mike Greene on the way home after his initial surgery in 2020. He was released on the Greene's anniversary - May 6th. “I usually don’t fix…

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Caregiving Tips From the Kidney Cancer Community

KCA, Patient Stories

Caregiving is a complex, challenging, sometimes heartbreaking, often rewarding responsibility. In honor of National Family Caregivers Month, we asked several people for their insights and best tips on caregiving. Read what they shared below. Sign up for monthly newsletters and read the special edition on caregiving now. Melissa Helmick, patient What is the most meaningful thing a caregiver can do…

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