Previous Heroes

Meet one of the UVSC’s youngest warriors,  Solomone Lewis, from Kahuku, O’ahu. He is 3-years old and is the youngest of five siblings. Diagnosed in June 2023, Solo is bravely battling high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia having recently undergone chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy* infusion. Juggling steady employment and caring for their other children while also managing to be by Solo’s side at the hospital has been challenging for Solo’s parents, William and Kolotina. UVSC has provided financial support to cover past due rent payments and ensure the Lewises can be with Solo and give him the best fighting chance as he continues treatment.

*Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a way to get immune cells called T cells (a type of white blood cell) to fight cancer by changing them in the lab so they can find and destroy cancer cells. CAR T-cell therapy is also sometimes talked about as a type of cell-based gene therapy, because it involves altering the genes inside T cells to help them attack the cancer.

And for those who are experiencing hardships in their cancer journey… Know that there’s people willing to help. Continue to have hope and keep fighting.”

In addition to managing Danilo’s cancer, he and his wife experienced additional financial hardship as a result of the Lahaina fires when the farm they worked for cut back their hours due to lack of tourism. In addition, the couple was suddenly evicted from their residence due to their landlord being foreclosed on. They were able to find temporary lodging with other family members until securing another rental a few months ago, but are still struggling due to reliance on a partial single income while Danilo is in treatment. UVSC has been able to provide rental assistance to ensure that Danilo and his wife/caregiver have safe and stable housing as he continues his cancer treatment and recovery.

Meet UVSC Beneficiary, Eric. He is a single father of two teenage boys and is bravely battling Stage 3 colon cancer. After his family lost their home in the devastating Lahaina fires, he and his sons relocated to Kahului, but he is unable to work due to his medical condition and frequent doctor visits. Because English is not Eric’s primary language, his sons bravely take turns accompanying him to his doctor’s appointments to act as translators – oftentimes needing to miss school to do so. As he continues to navigate his cancer journey along with the challenges of finding permanent, affordable housing and caring for his sons, UVSC hopes to ease his family’s financial burden so he can continue to focus on healing, living and enjoying time with his sons.

During the August wildfires on Maui, about 40% of the people living in Lahaina were of Filipino descent and many of those do not speak English as their primary language. This adds further difficultly and complexity to accessing fire relief and assistance services, and government benefits. UVSC is fortunate to have strong partnerships with other community organizations, like Pacific Cancer Foundation, whose skilled cancer navigators have been able to assist us with language translation and outreach to the Filipino community.

Kosianjra is 18 years old and was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May 2023 as she was nearing completion of her senior year at Kamehameha Schools on Maui. Kosianjra was living with her mother, Tamara, and younger brother at the time. Shortly after that, the cost of rent was increased significantly by the family’s landlord forcing the family to move out and stay with friends temporarily until they could afford another place. During this time, Kosianjra began her cancer treatment at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children on O’ahu while her mom stayed at Ronald McDonald House and her brother was housed with other relatives on Maui. There is no pediatric cancer care available on Maui so Kosianjra must travel to O’ahu for all of her appointments, tests and treatments, which adds a significant amount of cost and physical/mental exhaustion to managing an already difficult situation.

In the August fires, the temporary housing where Kosianjra and her mom could stay when they were back on Maui in between treatments on O’ahu was burned, so they were placed at the Hyatt. Limited housing inventory has made it impossible to find rental housing on Maui that is affordable for a family of three on a single income – especially while Kosianjra and Tamara must regularly travel and spend extended, unknown amounts of time on O’ahu for her treatment regimen.

Many Maui Fire Relief programs have very narrowly defined qualification criteria, which has hindered Tamara’s ability to obtain housing and financial resources to support them during this challenging time. UVSC’s financial assistance has helped Kosianjra and Tamara relocate to O’ahu and obtain stable housing during Kosianjra’s ongoing treatment for the next six months.

Tamara has continued to maintain her employment by flying back and forth from O’ahu to Maui every few days, often working full day shifts and returning without sleep to be back at Kosianjra’s side while she bravely fights cancer. Recently, Tamara shared her story with American Cancer Society’s national leadership team to bring greater awareness to the experiences, issues, and challenges faced by the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in Hawai’i that are facing cancer in the aftermath of the Maui fires. The strength, love, determination and resiliency of this family is nothing short of astonishing and UVSC is proud to support them.

March 2024 Update: Kosianjra is now receiving outpatient services and recently graduated. Congratulations Kosianjra!!

My name is Madoka Franklin. I am a wife and mother of two beautiful children and live in Lanai. I love my family very much and a “beach day” with them is my favorite thing to do.

My family went through medical issues in 2022 and I was their care giver. After my family members had recovered, I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer when I had my annual mammogram in March 2023.

When I heard the news, my heart was broken because my kids are still young. Also, I was the main provider for our family and I didn’t know what to do with our finances.  I was scared and hopeless. I couldn’t eat or drink anything for couple of weeks, but I had to stand up and get ready to do whatever needed to be done for myself and family.

I had right breast mastectomy in May and chemotherapy in July. When I had chemotherapy, I had to stay on Oahu for three whole months. It was really hard for me being away from the family. I missed their first day of the school, my son’s birthday, basketball game and so on. Thankfully for technology, I was able to maintain my emotional health with daily video calls with them.

My next step is reconstruction surgery and hormonal therapy. I am slowly going back to a regular routine after this surgery, but I will do it a little bit different this time. I will slow down and take care of myself more and enjoy the present moment, especially time with family.

I am really thankful for UVSC with their assistance and also the people on Lanai’s loving support.

Iluminada’s name means “illuminated” or “enlightenment” and she has been her family’s guiding light since day one. At the current age of 78, Iluminada is a mother to four children, a grandmother to nine grandchildren, and a great grandmother to a great grand-daughter. Affectionately known as “Mama,” she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2007 and has endured several treatments including thyroid removal surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and drug therapy. In 2019, her cancer developed into Metastatic thyroid cancer, also known as stage 4 thyroid cancer, which meant that it had spread from the thyroid gland to other areas of her body. As a result, Iluminada had to have a laryngectomy, which is a surgery to remove one’s voice box. This gave her a greater chance at extending her life, but it also meant that she would no longer have her natural voice.

For those who knew Iluminada prior to 2019, you knew that she was always the life of the party! To this day, she loves hosting parties and cooking various Filipino dishes. She enjoys spending time with friends and family and she doesn’t let her inability to speak naturally, or her cancer, get in the way of her daily activities. She attends church most everyday, unless she’s feeling a bit run down.

As residents of Lahaina, Maui, Iluminada and her family were recently impacted by the devastating wildfires in August 2023, which led to loss of their vehicle and employment. In addition, the medication required to treat Iluminada’s cancer has extremely high co-pays due to its limited availability and lack of generic options.

Although hour-long commutes to the doctor’s office in Wailuku can be a bit tiresome for her, she never complains one bit. Iluminada’s daughter, Merilou, shared, “I am a firm believer that her faith in God, as well as the medical treatment she’s getting, has kept her with us for the past 16 years! Our entire family is grateful to UVSC for providing the assistance our mom needs to continue fighting this disease. With your support, you are keeping the light within Iluminada alive.”

James Clover Bitzer is a lively 3 year old and “smart as a whip” says his dad, Jason Bitzer, a 15-year Lifeguard veteran on Oahu. Jason and his wife, Roberta Bitzer, an environmental scientist who is also very active with non-profit organizations on Oahu, are now in the biggest rescue attempt to help their son. James was recently diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma with an MIBG positive diagnosis. However there is hope at Sloan Kettering in New York, nearly 5,000 miles from Hawaii.

The family is currently at Sloan Kettering on the East Coast, as they cater to this specific disease. UVSC stands beside them to help provide that much needed strength and hope as they split their time between Hawaii and the East Coast and take on this daunting task and heavy costs.

In July 2022, our Kawaihala’ilanamalie, better known by her ‘ohana as Hala’i developed a lingering fever, stomach pains and began to limp. While traveling back and forth to O’ahu and undergoing numerous diagnostic tests, her parents, Lee Jon and Nalani never left her side.

On August 18, 2022, our sweet Hala’i was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma after a mass was detected between her right kidney and spine. Additional testing and biopsies have confirmed a stage 4 diagnosis as cancer has spread to her left thighbone and into her bone marrow.
Hala’i’s first round of chemotherapy was on September 13th at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children. Her initial treatment plan was for 21 days, followed by stem cell transplants and additional rounds of chemotherapy. Despite all of the discomfort our Hala’i has endured in the last several months, she still lights up the room with her beautiful smile and joyful spirit.

My name is Ally Tamayose, I’m 16 years old and I’m from Pearl City, Hawaii. I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in my left femur in January 2018. In that same year I underwent nine months of chemotherapy and had a limb-salvage surgery.

In January 2019, scans revealed that the mets in my lungs had grown and I began another chemo road map and had my first double thoracotomy at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. In January 2020, I had a third thoracotomy done to remove more lung mets that had continued to grow.

In June 2020, I participated in a CART-2 clinical trial at Texas Children’s in Houston, Texas. Following the clinical trial, I had another double thoracotomy to remove more lung mets that had grown. I then began taking an immunotherapy drug in hopes that it would keep me stable but that medication ended up giving me really bad hand, arm, leg, and feet sores so we ultimately made the decision to stop the inhibitor. My sixth thoracotomy was done in April 2021 to remove more lung mets that had grown and I began taking oral chemotherapy. I was on that medication for about 7 months, but the mets in my lungs continued to grow. I had my seventh thoracotomy done in November 2021.

Following that surgery, I began to develop headaches and it worsened throughout the holiday season. As 2022 came around, I was scheduled to have my eighth thoracotomy done in early January but we had to postpone it after scans revealed a mass on my brain that was causing pressure and giving me headaches. I had a craniotomy done to remove the tumor on January 11, 2022 and had my thoracotomy done 2 weeks after that.

Following the craniotomy, I started brain radiation to help treat the mets in my brain and started taking two different medications in hopes that they can keep my lung and brain mets stable.

In April 2022, scans showed that the medications were working on my brain mets but not on my lung mets. It was decided at that time thoracotomies were no longer a safe option for me. We then looked for other treatment options and ended up choosing SBRT radiation treatments with immunotherapy infusions.

Currently, I just completed my first round of my new medication and SBRT to my lungs. These past 4 years have taught me a lot about cherishing life, having hope and staying positive. All of which helps me continue to fight cancer.

Kahalau Au Hoon – a fun-loving, adorable three year old from Maui

I’m Kahalu’s mom, Rachel Ray Au Hoon. Our story is one about love and family! Duke, Kahalau’s dad, and I met in high school and were even prom sweethearts! Kahalau is our second child born in May, 2014 on our home island of Maui. We wanted to spend more time with our two children, Kahalau and Honi Honi, and thus decided to quit our jobs to open our own art business. We started in open air market venues but within a year I was able to get my artwork into 10 galleries and 4 restaurants and we now have a small gallery in Kahului, Maui called U’i Gallery.

Our family was living a happy life on Maui when in June 2017 we noticed something wasn’t right with Kahalau. One weekend during a family outing, Kahalau who had recently been unstable on her feet at times, couldn’t even stand up. Something obviously was not right but we had no idea what it could be. Why was our perfectly rambunctious little 3 year old seemingly deteriorating before our eyes? We had taken her to the doctor several times because she was unable to maintain balance and was very fussy at times. It was labeled as ataxia and lactose intolerance.

I decided that weekend that it was time to go to the emergency room and figure out why my child was so sick, why she was walking irregularly and suffering leg pain. Cancer didn’t even come to mind, we thought maybe it was vertigo or some type of infection.

A scan of her brain at Maui Memorial didn’t reveal anything. Since nothing was found, we were flown to Kaiser Moanalua to get more detailed imaging of her brain. An MRI, however, found nothing. They even did a spinal tap and still found nothing, so I asked for a CT and MRI of her abdomen because she had also been complaining about her stomach a little as well. Duke and Honi Honi flew over that week for the results.

As I held Kahalau in my arms recovering from sedation and feeling awful the doctor went over the CT scan results and showed us a very large mass that covered her entire abdomen across her stomach and kidneys. We cried in disbelief but had to be transferred to Kapiolani Hospital for a biopsy. Finally after two weeks of living in the hospital, Kahalau’s diagnosis was confirmed as Neuroblastoma Stage 3 High Risk. The next day she started her first round of chemotherapy on a clinical trial with frontline treatment in addition to targeted molecular medicine.

Kahalau was such a trooper every step of the way. After her first round of chemo, we were discharged and went to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. While there her count recovered and she walked more than she had in a month. She was starting to be a happy and active child again. After another round of chemotherapy, we saw more improvement in her walking and she began to eat more.

Kahalau is still undergoing chemotherapy treatment but remains active and is known to inspire other patients at the hospital. One Mom commented how her son did not want to walk for a few days and seeing Kahalau playing in the halls with her IV Pole made him walk more than he did in a while! She still has her tough days but she is so strong and pulls through even managing to display her silly personality, laughter and love of singing.

We are look forward to the day our daughter is no longer in the hospital fighting cancer and we are honored and excited to have UVSC at our side.