OMF - Lamar Valentina (36)shares his story with renal medullary carcinoma

WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon

Lamar was diagnosed when he was 35-years old in September 2019. He was having severe back pain in his lower back on the left side. The pain got worse and he developed a swollen lump.

He went to the hospital where they did a variety of tests. At first, they weren't sure what was wrong, and he ended up being admitted for 13 days

They originally told him he was diagnosed with lung cancer which came as a complete shock. They after more tests they discovered he had a very rare cancer, renal medullary carcinoma, which is a type of kidney cancer. It had spread to his lungs and abdomen.

He's been treated with chemotherapy, then surgery and then chemotherapy again. He's starting a new round of chemotherapy which is an oral pill that he takes each day.

Lamar grew up in New York City where he still lives. His son and ex-wife live in Boston and his ex-wife encouraged him to seek out Dana-Farber.

He's very close with his son and describes him as inquisitive, friendly and generous. They love watching Jeopardy together and grew very close watching Alex Trebek fight his own battle with cancer.

Lamar works as an Air Force recruiter, joining the Air Force nearly 15 years ago in March 2007. He's been stationed in Phoenix and deployed to Badhdad, Abul and Italy.

He played football when he was younger, and college basketball and basketball for an Air Force travel team. He says being part of a team builds character, saying there is no 'I' in team. He feels the same way about the team at Dana-Farber. He says he's had amazing experiences at Dana-Farber but not because of any one individual, but rather the entire team from the person screening him, to the person checking his vitals to his visits with Dr. McGregor.

Lamar, a Yankees fan, will be throwing out the First Pitch tonight.