My story begins on 30 April 1976. It is the date when Costin Pintilie was born. A beautiful baby boy. The first years of his life were great. He had a beautiful childhood, he studied, got a diploma, fell in love and got married. One day he applied for the Green card Lottery and a few months later, in 2004, he won. In America he worked in all kind of environments until he got a job that made him very proud. After five years of hard work he was living the American Dream. It was a beautiful and sunny day when Costin collapsed in the home of one of his clients. The clouds that appeared in that moment were only for him. He got to the ER and there he found out he had cancer: non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. His world collapsed. He could not believe that it was happening to him, so for a while he was in denial. When the symptoms could not be overlooked anymore he started a treatment plan. He got another job, and another job. At this point, a year later from the moment he was diagnosed, his wife started to think that he was cheating on her because she did not know about his third job (selling newspapers at night). He could not hide the ugly truth from her anymore, he could not protect her anymore, so he told her everything. She then told their family and friends. They all helped him but the bills were still piling up so he could not give up any of his jobs. For two years he fought the lymphoma with all his strength. He wanted to live, so he was fighting for his life. After all that chemotherapy and radiation, when he thought it could not get worse, it did: he got Metastatic Spinal Tumor. During a bone marrow transplant he had a heart attack from too much pain. It did not matter because he was determined to continue fighting, and the second day he went to work as though nothing bad had happened. He was starting to get better, the cancer was in remission when another bomb fell upon him: he got diagnosed with Glioblastoma grade 4. He thought that God had completely abandoned him, but somehow still found the strength to move forward. He could not keep three jobs any more so gave them up one by one. In the last six months he had six cyberknife brain surgeries. He lost everything he had in the last two years: money, house, car, but the greatest loss of all was his marriage. He now has only his mother and brother by his side, but they are only spiritually helping him because they live in Romania. In Norman Oklahoma, Costin is all alone. One could ask himself how much more can a man endure, but Costin’s will to survive is big and the most important thing is that he made it through it all, so far.
Today, 15th of august 2012, Costin is in the hospital at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas recovering from his last brain surgery. His surgical team did miracles once again and he is very and deeply grateful to his doctors.
This is the story of my best friend, the most wonderful person I have ever had the chance of knowing. Now comes my request to you, the ones who read it. Costin needs financial support because he is broke, his family has big debts and can’t help him anymore. Friends tend to abandon you in harsh times and he has no one to rely upon. He has got to pay the hospital a few thousand dollars, and also he’s got to eat and pay his rent. If you can help him, please contact him directly at this address: sibiliq@yahoo.com. More information here: http://humanitariancampaign.wordpress.com/ Every little help counts because he now, needs outside help to stay alive.
You can make donations here:
Bank of America
Beneficiary: Costin Pintilie
Account: 305003321054
Routing number: 103000017 (paper & electronic)
Swift Code ( international transfer): BOFAUS3N
Raiffeisen Bank, Romania
Beneficiary: Paraschiva Pintilie (Costin’s mother)
RO 10 RZBR 0000 0600 1458 5909 in USD
RO 32 RZBR 0000 0600 1458 5901 in RON
