Nathan Itao, 24 years old, is an avid outdoorsman and fisherman from Platte City, Missouri. In July of 2021, Nathan was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma with a CIC-DUC4 fusion, otherwise known as an aggressive/rare form of soft tissue cancer. In just a few short months, prior to his diagnosis, his tumor grew from the size of a golf ball to the size of a football along his rib cage. The tumor has reproduced and has left small nodes on his lungs.
Nathan started an intense 5 months of 9 different rounds of chemo. After the first five rounds he had a PT Scan and everything was looking better, his tumor activity was shrinking, and his lung nodes reduced in size by half and were not very active. After the ninth round of chemo his body struggled to recover, and after a month off chemo the tumor began to grow again. A PT scan revealed the tumor had grown, showed more cancerous cells than from the start, and became immune to the chemo.
Nathan made the courageous decision to move forward with removing the tumor from his body. Nathan, along with his parents, drove to Minnesota to have the operation completed at the Mayo Clinic. On January 24th, the tumor was removed from his side, along with six of his ribs. He has a long rode of recovery from this operation, along with continuing chemo after his recovery to ensure the lung nodes do not grow.
Nathan will be without insurance in a short few weeks, this leaving him and his family with extensive medical bills. We are going to be holding a silent auction for Nathan the weekend of March 5th and are seeking donations to be auctioned off. The event details are forthcoming. If you, or someone you know, is willing to donate and help raise money for Nathan and his family, please reach out to Tyler Shaffer or Andrew Nordbye.
Update: Link to Auction and Donate Page CLICK HERE
A word from Nathan – “This whole process has really humbled me. I went from lifting 450lbs to only being able to lift a frying pan. Fishing for 14 hours a day standing up to barely being able to stand for 30 seconds. Sleeping like an absolute rock to being scared to fall asleep. And from shedding a tear once a year to everyday. I will fight the fight till there is no need to fight. I’d like to thank my parents, family, and friends for the absolute amazing support. Without them this would have been over a while ago.”
Thank you and God’s blessings!
Please reach out to either of the two following contacts to make a donation or learn more!
Tyler Shaffer
(816)217-2249 | ShafferTyler92@gmail.com
Andrew Nordbye
anordbye@live.com
