Adrian Portillo comes home from another day of school and is reminded of his father, Fidel. From the pictures lining the halls to those filling photo albums, Adrian sees him. When he walks out back and spies the deck and shed his dad built, Adrian feels him. 艾德里安要去装修过的地下室了, 这又要归功于他父亲的辛勤劳动, 他走向一间摆满乐高景观的后屋——一个小城市的开始. “我喜欢创造东西. 用我的双手把东西拼在一起——这就是我爸爸的经历.”
“他在很多方面都像他父亲——诚实, 聪明的, 想为人们做最好的事, 勤奋的人,阿德里安的妈妈说, 玛丽亚（女名）. “他经历了这么多，我为他现在的样子感到骄傲. 他的父亲也会这样.”
艾德里安上高三的时候，他感到手臂非常不舒服. “感觉就像挨了一拳. 我的运动教练认为我拉伤了肌肉. 我知道有些地方不一样了，”他说. The pain persisted even as Adrian graduated high school and started at Salt Lake Community College. “有一天，我和一个朋友在做卧推时，我的手臂突然失去了知觉. 我感觉不到任何东西，除了酒吧-因为它落在我的胸部. I got an x-ray immediately and they found a mass pushing up against one of the main nerves in my arm.”
艾德里安被介绍给 亨茨曼癌症研究所 与…见面 肉瘤的团队. 他不明白自己为什么会因为手臂疼痛而被送到癌症医院. “高中时，我在许愿基金会做志愿者，遇到了一个女孩 骨肉瘤 谁最终通过了. 我脑子里的齿轮开始转动，然后一切都灵光一闪。. “我怎么得了这种罕见的癌症? 我锻炼. 我不会做任何会导致这种情况的事. 我认为这是不可能的. 那是最低点.”
“困难可以摧毁大发娱乐，也可以激励大发娱乐. 如果没有我的经历，我就不会有成功的动力. 我希望能够消除另一个家庭的悲伤.”
活检显示为低度恶性肿瘤. 艾德里安被告知有70%的长期存活率, 在整个过程中，他把哪一个作为第一个好消息. 然而，癌症有可能复发并扩散. “我开始意识到生命是脆弱的，”阿德里安说. “在我这个年纪，人们通常不会有这样的经历. 它塑造性格.”
The first summer after surgery on his arm, doctors found a nodule in Adrian’s lung. At that point while he was still recovering, a biopsy wasn’t possible for another six weeks. Adrian started to think about whether he should be back in school or spend his time traveling the world. “我是第一代大学生. 我妈妈在美国拿到了普通教育水平证书.S. 我爸爸是做建筑的. 这一直是我的计划，”他说. 幸运的是，这个结节是良性的.
“我不想浪费我得到的第二次机会，”阿德里安解释说. “I felt that if I could overcome this, then I would want to dedicate my life to caring for others.”
在亨茨曼癌症研究所工作期间，阿德里安开始热爱医学. “我一直很感兴趣，但我的医生， 约翰Groundland对我产生了我想对别人产生的影响. 看到他照顾别人，那种奉献精神令人鼓舞. 我记得我跟我的护理团队说我被医学院录取了. 一位医师助理给了我一个大大的拥抱. 他们很关心我.”
然而，另一种癌症诊断即将发生. 但对艾德里安来说不是这样.
2022年，菲德尔知道他做到了 食道癌 最终在退休后几周就去世了. “He worked in power plants and chemical plants, so he thought that’s what caused it. 当他被确诊时，我非常生气. 我爸爸不应该经历这些，”阿德里安说.
艾德里安的决心不但没有变得坚强，反而更加坚定了. “我一直很钦佩爸爸的积极向上和坚强. 我从没见过他哭，我知道他想哭. He worked in terrible environments and was underpaid because that’s all that was available to him. 我父亲的去世让我更加坚信这就是我命中注定要做的事.”
阿德里安在 初级儿童医院为讲西班牙语的父母大发娱乐提供支持. “他们压力很大。. Whether it was money, work, insurance, I just wanted to break down some of the barriers.” Adrian knew the importance of this role based on obstacles from his own experience.
“I remember asking people at school if they wanted to form a study group and they declined. 然后我看到他们都成立了自己的学习小组，没有我在里面. 我的心一沉. 为什么我与众不同? 是因为我说话的方式吗? 我的穿着? 然后，还有一次，我不得不从一个工作中的病人身上抽血. 他说了一些关于我的根的坏话. 我感到震惊和沮丧. 但这就是我. 我把它变成了动力. 我爱我是谁，我来自哪里.”
“I felt that if I could overcome this, then I would want to dedicate my life to caring for others.”
Adrian knows people have misconceptions about him and that’s why he also knows he has to be an advocate for his culture. “犹他州有很多说西班牙语的人. 我不认为其他人知道他们所面临的困难. 我的父母面临很多问题. That’s why I’m trying to build confidence in my community by diversifying the field of medicine, 和别人谈论他们的经历, 分享他们所面临的困难，以便向前迈进.”
艾德里安找到了自己的使命. 自2018年以来，他一直没有癌症，预计将于2027年毕业, 目前对骨科肿瘤学很感兴趣. 他的弟弟约瑟（Josue）正在药学院开辟自己的道路.
“悲伤很难，失去一个人也不容易. 我想爸爸想得要命. 我想和他谈谈，和他分享我到目前为止所取得的成就. 困难可以摧毁大发娱乐，也可以激励大发娱乐. 如果没有我的经历，我就不会有成功的动力. 我希望能够消除另一个家庭的悲伤.”
视频记录
我从小就是个大运动员，我喜欢运动. 我喜欢运动. 到了高中，我打棒球，还是摔跤手. 我真的很喜欢. 我想这让我远离了麻烦. It kept me active; it kept me healthy.
我叫艾德里安·莱昂纳多·波蒂略. 我今年23岁. 我是犹他州西谷市的本地人. 我是犹他大学医学院的学生.
当时我刚毕业. 我刚找到一份工作，还不确定自己想做什么. I had a lot of different things in mind and didn't think too much about healthcare. 我总是喜欢用我的双手工作，总是把东西放在一起. 我以为我会变成, something within the field of carpentry or just kind of following the footsteps of my dad. 我慢慢地开始意识到，我只是开始每天都有疼痛. Every time I would do anything, even if it was just like a light workout, I would have these pains.
有一天，我和一个朋友在做卧推. And I remember immediately a shock ran up my arm and I just lost complete feeling in my left arm and the weights essentially fell on me. 吧台，砸在我胸口了. 我去看了医生，因为我右臂上的肘部有另一个问题. 这就是我说服自己的方式，因为我就像, 我不想因为这个去看医生. My elbow was my biggest concern because I played baseball and this was my throwing arm. I went in, got X rays, and the doctor came in, and he pointed out on the X-ray, a lesion. And I remember during that appointment, I kept saying, “Well, what about my elbow? 我的胳膊肘怎么样了？?他说：“我想大发娱乐还有别的事情要担心。.
I went to Huntsman, met with the 肉瘤的团队 and from there on out, I did a biopsy. 那几周的等待真是太可怕了. 这是一个骨膜骨肉瘤. 如果有人得了骨原性肉瘤，这就是你想要的. 很明显，没有人想要骨原性肉瘤. 但这只是我被告知的好消息. 对我来说, that changed a lot because it gave me hope and gave my family hope that I would be okay, 至少是长期的.
大发娱乐通过手术切除了它，边缘很清晰. 这让我再次处于有利地位, and I think the big snowball effect of all these things that were really motivating me to say if I'm going to be alive, 我活着是有原因的. 所以, that motivation helped me and to this day, I say, if I'm still here, I'm here for a reason.
Near the end of Adrian’s graduate studies at the University of Utah, his dad started to get sick.
I don't know how long he was having these symptoms, but he started to struggle swallowing. 我马上就开始担心了，因为他很坚强. 即使你觉得超级恶心，你也看不出来. 但我注意到他一吃东西就差点卡住. 我和我妈妈说，你应该去看医生. 他们做了内窥镜检查，我想这就是它的名字. And they couldn't even go all the way down the way they're supposed to because there was a mass there. 它太大了，就像我说的，无法通过. So, they pulled it out there, they did the biopsy, and essentially saying there's a tumor there. And the biopsy results did show it was a form of adenocarcinoma, so he had 食道癌.
但当他被诊断出来的时候，到处都是. 他没有多少机会打架. And I think that was very hard on me because it almost seemed like it wasn't fair. 这也是我在自己的经历中一直追寻的东西. 我一直觉得这不公平, how I was able to kind of walk away and be okay and be healthy and be able to go to medical school and do all these things, 而其他人则不然. 我想他几周后就去世了.
我愿意做任何事，只要能成为我父亲的一半, I'm just grateful that I was able to learn a lot from him and use that experience to shape myself into the person that I want to be in the future. I think I really knew that I wanted to do something that would give me meaning in my life, 好像我在这个世界上是有意义的. 所以, 马上, 我说, “I don't think there'd be anything else I'd want to do then be able to use my experience and be able to use the experiences I've learned just from others who have also have faced cancer, other friends that I've met just through the community to kind of help others and give them hope. 它给了我动力, 想上医学院, to want to use this experience to motivate others and care for others in their own time of need, 我认为这是我今天一直坚持的.