Maria Teresa Fahy lost her beloved father, Chema, to kidney cancer. But in that loss, she found strength in others and today is devoted to kidney cancer patient advocacy. In addition to running the Facebook page Team Chema, she also serves on the KCCure Patient Advisory Board. Thank you Maria Teresa for being a voice of advocacy!
The story of Chema: Infinity and Beyond: The power of love.
My Dad was José Maria Buendía—but we all knew him as Chema. He was an amazing Dad, hard worker and a fighter. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in November 2010, after coughing for a couple of months, which what they thought was bronchitis. It ended up being lung metastasis of a 5cm tumor in his right kidney. We lost him 9 months later, but he fought with everything he had, like he did all his life.
His legacy lives on in us every day, in his wife, my sisters and his grandchildren. His diagnosis was devastating. We didn’t know anything about kidney cancer and we were determined to learn everything, so we could give him the best we could, and we did, and in return he gave us his all. He fought every day for us, for one more day; he went through 3 different targeted therapies. But at the end God decided it was time to give him his angel wings.
Our lives changed forever but we still keep fighting back for him. His diagnosis was the worst moment of our lives. But in the process of his fight, I met so many amazing people through the Facebook group Kidney Cancer Warriors. I’m still friends with them today. Connecting with others not only allowed me to learn more about the disease and help my father, it also made me want to be an advocate for others.
I decided to create Team Chema, to raise awareness and educate people about kidney cancer. Team Chema is my Facebook page dedicated to my Dad’s memory and I place where I can share kidney cancer information. I also ran a marathon (or maybe walked ;)) to raise money for kidney cancer research.
A lot has happened since my Dad’s diagnosis. We have more therapies available to fight this cancer now than we did 8 years ago, we have more data available, and we have great doctors dedicated to our cause. That is amazing, but there is still a lot to do and I plan to keep doing my part.
Chema would have turned 80 years old this past February. We miss him every day more, but we celebrate his life and his legacy every day. He loved his family and he loved his horses, he was known as the horse gentleman. I believe there is always something to do and I hope I’m doing it. This is a mission of love and like he always said, we love you to “infinity and beyond.”
Thank you KCCure for giving me this opportunity to share Chema’s story here, we need to keep raising awareness to end kidney cancer, we need to keep working together until we find a cure.
Maria Teresa Buendia Fahy “Infinito y más allá”
Want to join in Maria Teresa’s advocacy efforts? Read more at the KCCure Facebook Page about how you can join in her exciting fundraising opportunity!
