My buddy's story on Atlanta News!

People using Social Media to pay Medical bills.

I have talked about him several times on ATS, and he is getting a lot of attention both for fundraising, and also just general attention for his tenacity and the outpouring of support surrounding him. I am going to link several other previous news stories, and I am going to link to his main fundraising page. Please don't take it as fundraising, it is just the most convenient place to see his story in a concise format. I'll make that link the very last and least important one.

Hopefully many of you have seen my previous posts about all the alternative cancer treatments he has attempted. He has visited the Buryznski people in Houston, he has gotten the vaccines in Mexico, he has done the Hyperbaric Chambers, and intravenous Vitamin C, and Ozone Therapy, and he is consistently on the anti-cancer diets, including raw vegetables, and the Budwig Protocol. He takes his 60 drops of food grade peroxide everyday, and he pees on a test strip to make sure his body is staying alkaline. He is currently being treated by the Rosenberg Centers. He has been on and off of Chemo and Radiation for 4 years, and he is currently in a 30 day reprieve from the chemo, because his blood levels are not rebounding the way they should be. At one point last fall he was given 30 days to live. The Chemo had stopped being effective, his weight was gone, his blood was gone, and they prepared his mother for the worst. She didn't stand for it, and she convinced the doctors to change up the chemo cocktail, and the tumors started shrinking again.

He was diagnosed at the age of 26 with a very rare cancer type called Rhabdomyosarcoma. This cancer has about a 20% survival chance at 5 years, but his was already advanced, stage 4, and metastasized before they started treatment, so his chances were much lower than the typical 20%. He took it in stride, and he has been fighting every since.

This guy was the pinnacle for knowing how to live right. The stories I could tell about him before the cancer are unbelievable. I could talk about hanging out with Jerry Rice, or Trick Daddy, or T-pain, Mike Tyson, or having his photo up in the local oyster bar just for his antics that created a fanclub! Good times and chaos have followed him his whole life, but in a great kind of way.

He was born in Armenia in the USSR, but he moved to California after his country collapsed. He speaks 3 languages fluently, has a Master's Degree, has National Championship rings in football, and has a centerfold in a Sports Illustrated issue even though he was just a walk-on and almost never saw playing time. At one point he was described by a fan site of his football team as "leading the team in tackles and gold teeth." He is one of the only white members of a black fraternity known as the Q-dogs, and he is a Freemason, and he rides a Harley, and drives a Diesel truck.

So, here are my buddy's previous stories and headlines, check them out. ATS is my family, and I'm proud of my buddy making the Atlanta News tonight, and I want to share the story with my ATS family. Hope you enjoy.

T.O.'s Facebook Page: Friends Against Cancer

FSU Scout Team Defensive MVP

Dying to Live: The Power of Friendship (Page 43)

WCTV: Two players United by Cancer

T.O. meets Iron Mike --> And they cried together. T.O. tells Mike that he is a source of strength for him, but Mike says he can barely keep his own life together, and he can't imagine helping save anyone else's. They have met a couple of times since this meeting, and have exchanged phone numbers. Iron Mike really is a great guy in case you guys didn't know it.

Former lineman battles Cancer

And the WSBTV Clark Howard program: People using Social Media to pay Medical Bills

*snip*)




Mod Edit: Removed link at OP's request.

reply to post by getreadyalready

Great post and a nice tribute. I remember you talking about him in another post and had to google that unpronounceable cancer.

I bet getting to meet Mike was quite a happening. The photos of their meeting are great, Mike with his Mike t shirt on. (It's funny, I used to hate him when he was a boxer due to all the media hype, I later came to like him. Oh, some idiot burglar broke into his house and Mike was home! I digress...)

Your friend sounds like quite the man. All that treatment and experimentation, I take my hat off to him and wish him all the effectiveness in the world.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


Thank you!

There is a better story, with more pictures and more personal commentary, but I'm having trouble finding the link.

Tyson gave my buddy a pair of his black boxing trunks, and autographed them in gold, and told him to wear them at every treatment, they are his "fighting trunks." Pretty cool! That has to be some major motivation for a guy!

Here is a better pic when the crowd cleared and Mike invited him back for a personal talk.