Paul DeVuono Aumentado

Family and friends of Paul Aumentado are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with a catastrophic illness. Paul has chosen to fundraise with Help Hope Live in part because donations are tax deductible for contributors and will only be used to cover medical and related expenses.

“You have pancreatic cancer. We’re not sure what stage. You’re going to die.”

Those words slammed into me months ago and they still haven’t left. I don’t know if the doctor actually said it exactly like that or if terror filled in the blanks. Either way, the message was clear: time is running out.

What hurts almost as much is knowing that money—not just the cancer—might be what decides whether I get to keep fighting.

My path to diagnosis was already a nightmare of delays. After a botched artery surgery led to a toe amputation in 2025, I repeatedly told doctors about crushing pain on my left side. I was dismissed, mistreated, and left feeling invisible—especially by a pain management doctor who acted unprofessionally and walked out on me. It took switching to my primary care physician, who finally ordered a CAT scan, for the tumor to be found. The biopsy confirmed pancreatic cancer around December, and I received the devastating news while still in the recovery room.

I wasn’t starting fresh. Years of prior battles—bypass surgery, toe amputation, and melanoma back in 2005—had already complicated everything. My medical history made it easier for doctors to overlook new warning signs, turning what could have been an earlier fight into a late one.

Now the bills are piling up like another disease. Weeks of chemotherapy, possible major surgery, scans, medications, travel to treatments, and daily living expenses while I’m too sick to work—it’s overwhelming. Insurance has gaps and roadblocks that feel like they’re working against me instead of for me to live. Every “no” or denied claim chips away at my ability to stay in treatment. Right now, money is the biggest obstacle standing between me and more time.

I want to live. I want to fight with everything I have left. But I can’t do it if the financial weight crushes me first.

That’s why I’m turning to Help Hope Live. Every tax-deductible donation goes straight to my medical bills—no waste, no middlemen. It gives me the chance to focus on healing instead of drowning in debt.

If you’ve ever felt helpless watching someone you care about suffer, this is your chance to do something real. Your gift, no matter the size, could literally help keep me here longer—for my family, for the moments that still matter.

Please don’t look away. Help me keep fighting.