August 25, 2006

Patty Mendez celebrates 11 years without cancer

Twelve-year-old Patricia Mendez is a cancer survivor and has been for nearly all of her life.

Survivor Patricia Mendez poses with her mom, Debbie, and 7 ½-year-old brother, Danny, while taking a break in the survivor tent.

“Patty was diagnosed with Wilm’s tumor on her kidney a week before her second birthday,” said her mom, Debbie Mendez.

Patty was also one of a large number of kids in California that developed the tumor and later did a survey with 200 of them. Doctors and researchers have no idea what causes the disease. Another child who had the disease was at Stanford at the same time, Debbie said. Her mother had also had Wilms.

Patty had to go through chemotherapy, but she doesn’t remember. She had a tube that needed to be flushed out nightly.

She did well, he mother said, and has been free of the disease ever since. “Every two years, knock on wood, we see the doctor to make sure it hasn’t returned, and she’s still doing well,” Debby said.

“I lost my right kidney and I’m not allowed to play tackle football. My left kidney is larger because it has to do the work of two,” Patty told the Times.

This was her first Relay For Life but won’t be her last, Debbie said. “This year was an initiation, next year we’re bringing a team.”