Man’s Sudden Medical Diagnosis Derails Lifelong Dream
Tony Piazza and furry friend
Tony Piazza, former Ferndale resident, Eureka City Schools “chef”, hospitality class teacher at College of the Redwoods, and an employee of the Benbow Inn in Southern Humboldt, set down his hospitality hat, and prepared to retire with his wife in Merida, Mexico. What should be the most relaxing time of his life has turned into a nightmare.
Tony and his wife Andrea left their Ferndale home bound for their Mexican retirement adventure in October 2022. The trip was unexpectedly exhausting for Tony, leaving the majority of the burden of driving the 4,000 miles to Andrea. Once there, Tony’s condition deteriorated. An emergency room doctor diagnosed Tony with End Stage Renal Disease.
Tony is currently undergoing dialysis and care in Merida where he is still too ill to travel back to the U.S. According to Tony’s mother-in-law, Patti Weber, though the healthcare treatment Tony is receiving is excellent, the family is having to pay for treatments in cash as Tony does not have health insurance in Mexico.
The goal is to be able to get Tony and Andrea back to the U.S. where he can receive insurance-covered medical care. Patti wrote, “Andrea is caring for him around the clock and is unable to work. The medical costs are using up the majority of his pension. To save costs they are staying with me and family has helped. They’re so appreciative.”
Patti has set up a GoFundMe account to assist with the medical costs associated with Tony’s treatments as the family attempts to get him well enough to return to the U.S.
Laura Chase, retired Director of Nutrition Services for Eureka City Schools, wrote of her former co-worker’s plight, “They have both worked tirelessly all of their lives and put their boys through college and were taking some time for themselves. He is basically stuck [in Mexico], too sick to return to the states and Medicare does not pay for health care in Mexico.”
Laura and Patti are asking the community to help Tony and Andrea in their time of need after a life of dedication and volunteering within the Humboldt community. “There is so much more to Tony’s story and the life he has lived and the kind person he is. They are humble people and asking for help is not easy. This is literally life or death,” Laura wrote.
Patti echoed Laura’s sentiment, writing on the GoFundMe, “Tony must continue with the treatments to stay alive. Their lifetime dream has become a nightmare.”
To read more about Tony’s retirement turned nightmare, visit the GoFundMe below.
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I’m sorry for the medical problems. But anyone who thinks about retiring to another country needs to also plan for declining health. That cheap retirement in another country might actually cost more than staying in the US.
Guest-really? Not the place or time.
Terrible as the outcome is, a reminder to many of us of the shortcomings of USA Medicare is a pertinent reminder to anyone reading this. I don’t find it offensive but more a cautionary reminder. I specifically use an insurance plan that I buy when going overseas (or Mexico) and also carry overseas medical evacuation insurance so I can get back to the USA for treatment once stabilized locally.
That said, no mention of whether Tony was vaxxed for COVID-19 before leaving?
Mexico has pretty good health insurance foreign devils such as ourselves can buy if they so choose.
Ok just do whatever feels good then.
He got sick while en route to Merida …unexpectedly.
Still people ought to be aware though that the things they take for granted (however much the complain about them) in the US are not necessarily going to help them outside the country. Part of Medicare is a program on end stage renal disease as that covers most related costs. So if they can get him a life line flight to just across the border, there are great hospitals in San Diego for his care. I hope they can make such arrangements.
I forgot to mention that he doesn’t have to be age 65 to qualify for it.
Please check into Life Line they are wonderful people who donate their time and planes to take both of you hubby and wife where they need to go! Please check it out I went with my best friend from our very rural willow Creek to UCSF and even LA as she was giving cancer the fight of her life! And the cost was ZERO!!! They are earthly angels!!! ?
That was terrible luck that he got End Stage Renal Disease so rapidly. Johns Hopkins website says:
“Acute renal failure has an abrupt onset and is potentially reversible.”
Do they have any idea what caused this extremely rapid deterioration of the kidneys, it is absolutely terrifying.
Come on! Not the time or place! Good luck Tony, and to your wife as well!
TRUTH!
Been there with my family. And, it’s not fun. Just EXPENSIVE.
My mom retired to Mexico and she has US insurance so when she had stage one cancer she went and stayed with her daugters and family for treatment, then when she was done with treatment she went back to MX. She said if she gets severly ill she will just sell her house in MX and move back to the states. It is not that hard to move back, the problem with this couple is they just moved there.
Like acute medical conditions allow for time and energy to sell a house. That’s not a plan. That’s a hope.
She has family and kids in the US to stay with and if you are very ill you would be in the hospital, she has good US health insurance, She could always rent her house until it sells, Mexico is the #1 spot for US retirees, Mexico has turned into a 2nd word country, they have good doctors at affordable prices if the care is short term.
Tony: Research “Ivermectin”. Make your own call. I know it has been politicized, but at this point what could it hurt? Best wishes, from Lou
You are not a doctor. Stay in your lane.
I never said I was.. What’s the harm in researching something? Perhaps he could ask his doctor, perhaps is could cure him.
Or kill him, but ya know, why not give it a try?
Better for you to give it a rest than him give it a try.
Why would anyone with severe kidney damage and disease put a heavy medication in their system that puts more pressure on their kidneys? Smh.
Best of luck to this man. I hope he gets back stateside and gets the medical care he needs.
A quick Google search for all you internet doctors:
“Antibiotic ivermectin preferentially targets renal cancer through inducing mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative damage“
Abstract
“Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most aggressive type of genitourinary cancer and highly resistant to current available therapies. In this work, we investigated the effects and mechanism of anti-parasitic agent ivermectin in RCC. We show that ivermectin significantly inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in multiple RCC cell lines that represent different histological subtypes and various mutation status. Importantly, ivermectin is significantly less or ineffective in normal kidney cells compared with RCC cells, demonstrating the preferential toxicity of ivermectin to RCC. Ivermectin also significantly inhibits RCC tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, ivermectin induces mitochondrial dysfunction via decreasing mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondrial respiration and ATP production. As a consequence of mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and damage is detected in ivermectin treated RCC cells and xenograft mouse model. The rescue of ivermectin’s effect by acetyl-l-Carnitine (ALCAR, a mitochondrial fuel) or antioxidant N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) confirms mitochondria as the target of ivermectin in RCC cells. Compared to normal kidney cells, RCC cells have higher mitochondrial mass and respiration, and ATP production, which might explain the preferential toxicity of ivermectin to RCC. Our work suggest that ivermectin is a promising candidate for RCC treatment and targeting mitochondrial metabolism is an alternative therapeutic strategy for RCC.
Keywords: Ivermectin; Mitochondrial function; Oxidative stress/damage; Renal cancer.“
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28847725/
apoptosis = cell death
You are cutting into Pfizer profits. It is now illegal for California doctors to tell the truth.
and yet you’re on here daily spouting off about Covid
worth a try~
No. Taken internally ivermectin is cleared by the kidneys. In fact such a thing might be tantamount to overdosing because his kidneys are not functioning.
Really?
In renal cancer, ivermectin promotes programmed cell death via mitochondrial dysfunction caused by ROS generation (Zhu et al., 2017). Ivermectin increases cell apoptosis (Figure 3); however, this function has not yet been elucidated in pancreatic cancer.Aug 26, 2022
https://www.frontiersin.org › articles
Ivermectin and gemcitabine combination treatment induces … – Frontiers
End stage renal disease is not cancer. If it was, I’m pretty sure it would have been mentioned. What this man needs is a donor kidney and presently, dialysis. You need dialysis every other day. My younger sister lived with dialysis for 7 years. I’m wishing this man good luck and godspeed. Get on a plane and fly to S. California and all will hopefully get better.
Good point that cancer wasn’t mentioned.. sorry about your sister. Hoping that Tony gets the help he needs and gets to enjoy a quality life In his retirement
I went to School with Tony all the way from Alice Burney through Eureka High. he was always popular, and known as a pretty good guy
I feel for Tony and wish I could help financially, but my family has also been fighting a very similar fatal infection since 2014.
There have been 14 family members, and close family frieds out of 26, who have been infected, out of six different house holds. Of the 14 we have lost 3 within the last 3 years, and 11 members have survived, of which some are still struggling
One member had no warning at all, just suddenly within 48 to 72 hours, he was found with high fever and near death, at 67 years old, and a former smoker, we were all extremely concerned.
He was in the later part of SEPSIS, from a MultiDrug Resistant Staph Aureus. Which is highly contagious, and can be contracted without direct contact.
In fact studies have shown that the bacteria can live outside of a host for up to six months. So someone can become a carrier and have no idea that they are infected. Until the lymph nodes eventually become damaged from the bacteria that mimics the body’s own DNA, and as a result the immune system becomes comprised and weakened.
There have been hundreds of studies on this disease, at last check over 120,000 people were infected in 2017, and 20,000 of those did not survive.
Well the family member that was in a coma for six weeks and in ICU for 3 months with Sepsis from MRSA Staph Aureus, was told if he survived he would need dialysis everyday for the rest of his life.
So the family started to make plans how we would care for him.
This family member at 67, lost nearly 70 percent of his kidneys, was released from the hospital after 3 months of extensive IV PIC treatments, and he didn’t have to have any invasive surgery at all.
He was released to his home, after the entire family spent weeks disinfecting and tossing out anything that could be potentially infected.
He never had to have dialysis treatments at all. And he’s not had any recurring infection. Since 2017, he has been living a full an active life, visiting family, and enjoying his favorite past times, with his dog, fishing on the bay, enjoying his grand babies, and playing bingo at Cher Ae heights 2 or 3 times a week.
I don’t know if any of this will information will help you Tony, but for the best infectious disease doctors that I have researched, Dr. Miller at Harbor University in Southern Calif. is the most knowledgeable; spear heading the latest cures from all his research and conducting studies globally for at least 35 years.
I’d say Good Luck Tony, but I have a feeling you’re in good hands.
Peace
“The eyes are useless when the mind is blind”
~Mark Venturini
Ivermectin is not an antibiotic. Sciencedirect is not a reliable source
??
He doesn’t have worms.
? please read the links I provided or do some research on your own and get back to me
Don’t you know that Donald Trump invented ivermectin so it must be bad. Just saying ivermectin should get you banned from polite company because saying ivermectin makes you mega maga. Why would anyone research something on their own and consult their doctor about individual health care options when the consensus is orange man bad!
The Donald is responsible for many things but the credit for inventing Ivermection belongs to a Japanese scientist.
It was sarcasm.
That’s for Horses and livestock.
Horse paste again?
Covid complications?
hmmm?
Fucked around and found out~
sorry…sad but this is the reality
I don’t see anything about Covid in the article or the GoFundMe page; i saw renal (kidney) disease… do you know something other readers don’t?
I have seen many great people go completely bankrupt dealing with medical bills then they died because they couldn’t afford more treatments.
They didn’t have a vacation home in Mexico either.
It’s our medical system that is so screwed up!
Really? What did our medical system have to do with having to pay cash in Mexico?