Michael Martinez has always had a positive outlook on life with a focus on family and helping others. Three years ago, Michael鈥檚 optimistic attitude took a hit when his life and health were threatened by a series of medical challenges he never saw coming.
鈥淧rior to July of 2021, I was just living a good life,鈥 Martinez sad. 鈥淚 was a five-day-a-week mountain biker and a body builder with three kids and 10 grandkids. I was just living life. I didn鈥檛 have any health issues.鈥
But that all changed the morning after a Fourth of July gathering to watch fireworks in 2021. 鈥淚 got up to take a shower on July 5 before going mountain biking because that鈥檚 what I usually did on days off,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 finished showering, stepped out of the shower, and I collapsed.鈥
Martinez said he was in and out of consciousness, but he remembers falling and stumbling around the bedroom before completely passing out on his living room floor. At the time, he wasn鈥檛 sure he would survive what he thought was a massive stroke.
鈥淚 said to myself, 鈥楾his must be how it ends'鈥.
鈥淚 really thought my life was ending there because everything went dark and I closed my eyes. It must have been seconds or minutes later that I opened my eyes and it was bright. The sun was coming through the window, but I felt like I couldn鈥檛 move.鈥
His right side paralyzed, Martinez still can鈥檛 explain how he not only discovered his cell phone within reach on the living room floor but was also able to use his left arm and hand to call 9-1-1. Minutes later, the fire department arrived at his home and rushed him to the hospital.
Martinez described the next few days of uncertainty. 鈥淪o, I鈥檓 sitting there in the hospital, and they started doing CTs and MRIs to look for a cause,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 remember one neurologist from St. Mark鈥檚 came up and said, 鈥榊ou know, we don鈥檛 know why you had this stroke. We see something in there but there鈥檚 so much bleeding, we can鈥檛 really tell.鈥 It was a hemorrhagic stroke, a bleed in the brain.鈥
The answers and diagnosis Martinez would need to understand what happened to him on July 5, 2021, would not come quickly. Over the next year, he would undergo intense inpatient and outpatient rehab to work back to near full strength in his right hand and arm.
Meanwhile, doctors would give him an initial diagnosis of a cerebral cavernous malformation, or a collection of abnormally large blood vessels in his brain. They can cause problems if they bleed as they did the morning Martinez suffered what he thought was a stroke.
鈥淚 did a lot of reading about cavernous malformations, and I was thinking, 鈥極h, my gosh is it going to bleed again and am I going to have another stroke?鈥欌 he said. 鈥淏ut I was always upbeat, and I never let anything get me down.鈥
Then, in May 2022, his neurologist called Martinez to say, 鈥溾業 want to look in your brain again and see if the bleeding has gone down and we can figure out why you had the stroke.鈥欌 Another MRI a few days later revealed a brain tumor. That鈥檚 when Martinez was introduced to Sarah Menacho, MD, vice chair of the and director of the Neuro Critical Care Unit at 麻豆学生精品版.
Menacho performed a craniotomy on Martinez, took the tumor out, and sent it to pathology, where her suspicions were confirmed. The metastatic brain tumor had originated in Michael鈥檚 kidney.
鈥淢elanoma, kidney, breast, and lung cancer are all known to travel to the brain, and then the kidney tumors are known to hemorrhage in the brain as well,鈥 Menacho said. 鈥淏ut we didn鈥檛 know at the time I met him that he had kidney cancer. It was after the scans that it was discovered.鈥
Once the kidney, adrenal gland, and a heart feeder vein were identified as cancerous, Martinez had them all removed during surgery in August 2022. Manish Kohli, MD, an oncologist at 麻豆学生精品版, basically changed Michael鈥檚 original diagnosis.
鈥淒r. Kohli said, 鈥榊ou know, you had all three of these situations鈥攖he kidney, the brain tumor, and the thyroid nodule鈥攐n the day of your stroke,鈥欌 Martinez said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when they moved my diagnosis of Stage 4 RCC (renal cell carcinoma) or kidney cancer to July 5, 2021.鈥
In January 2023, it was time for Martinez to decide how he wanted to monitor his cancer and overall health going forward. 鈥淭hey suggested several different treatment options, and I chose the option to be scanned every three months and to address any new cancer that might come up with either surgery or radiation,鈥 Martinez said.
For the next year, the scans showed no signs of any new cancerous growths, and Martinez continued to build up his physical strength while also earning a master鈥檚 degree in social work. At age 65, it is the third career Martinez has successfully pursued, including time in law enforcement and as a construction company owner.
鈥淚 have always been positive, especially when it comes to my kids, my parents, and my grandparents...I hate having to do rehab over and over again after surgery, but I am alive and still able to do the things I like to do.
"I hope my experiences will make me a better social worker. One thing I want to do is talk to patients up at Huntsman Cancer Institute because I see a lot of those patients who are in despair.鈥
The ability to focus on the future with a positive attitude has already seen Martinez through a setback earlier this year. In January, another small mass appeared in his brain and needed to be removed. This time, he chose a minimally invasive laser ablation to burn the cancer cells and make them go away. Menacho performed the ablation, currently only done in Utah at University Hospital, and described it as successful.
鈥淭he prognosis for Michael is pretty good,鈥 Menacho said. 鈥淥ther than the brain, the cancer has not really spread to many other places in his body. It鈥檚 not like he has tumors everywhere. It seems to be more isolated to the brain.鈥 However, she stressed that, 鈥淯nfortunately, there isn鈥檛 a time with kidney cancer when we can say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e cured, move on with your life.鈥欌
It is fortunate for Michael that he isn鈥檛 dwelling on what might happen but rather living in the moment and enjoying his family and career as a social worker. 鈥淎ll my doctors tell me that your positivity is definitely helping you through all of this,鈥 Martinez said. 鈥淚 think I can have a positive effect on all the people in my life.鈥