UF biology freshman Erika Atencio wears her “Supraman Strong” T-shirt when she asks for donations.
Her friend Ian Supra has battled stage 4 esophageal cancer for more than a year. Despite several rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer spread to Supra’s liver, lungs and lymph nodes.
Atencio said Supra’s medical bills are “a hell of a lot,” which is why she joined her Dr. Phillips High School classmates in an effort to offset his hospital and treatment costs by selling “Supra Strong” bracelets and T-shirts.
After Atencio, 19, and her friends graduated from high school, she said they distributed the bracelets to colleges across the country — from Florida State University to Harvard University. Now, the wristbands will be given to UF students, who have the option of donating money to help Supra’s family cover medical costs.
“I cannot express my gratitude enough for the people that try to help out,” said Atencio, who has been friends with Supra since sixth grade.
After Supra announced his diagnosis Jan. 31, 2014, his friend Mateo Mayorga went home and thought of what product he could sell to offset Supra’s medical bills.
That night, he said, he ordered 300 bracelets.
With the help of Supra’s elementary-school sweetheart, Tina Ashour, Mayorga created Team Supra.
In three days, a group of Supra’s friends sold 1,000 bracelets at school for $5 a piece. In one year, the team sold more than 2,000 bracelets, with the remainder of FSU’s batch being given out at UF this month.
Through donations on Supra’s YouCaring pages, which raises money to help his cause, Team Supra raised $91,795 and $4,160. The group’s T-shirt sales on Booster, another fundraising website, have raised $1,060.
Mayorga, a journalism freshman at Valencia College in Orlando, said the name “Supra Strong” was easy to come up with.
“It sounds just right — Supra Strong, you know?” the 19-year-old said.
Mayorga said he pays for every bracelet order with his own money so all profits directly benefit his friend.
After they met in ninth grade, Mayorga said he and Supra bonded instantly.
“We were brothers as soon as we met,” he said.
They were inseparable, he said, sharing a mutual love for athletics. Supra played on the high school water polo team while Mayorga coached.
After rounds of chemotherapy, Atencia said Supra became sick and skinny.
After he had completed three rounds, Supra still played a game of water polo, Mayorga said.
“Supra Strong really defines him,” he said.
Although he is in pain, Atencio said Supra is always in good spirits.
“He takes it like a champion,” she said.
Cancer is still in Supra’s lymph nodes, which prompted doctors to remove 31 of them about four months ago.
Because chemotherapy still hadn’t killed all of Supra’s cancer, he traveled to Spain about five months ago to seek holistic treatment. When he came back, Mayorga said his friend’s cancer markers were higher than they’d ever been.
Atencio and Mayorga said Supra always makes friends with other patients at the hospital, and he is invested in promoting their triumphs and prayer requests on the Team Supra Facebook page.
Mayorga said Supra asked him at the hospital to help raise money for a 5-year-old who has an inoperable brain tumor.
“He’s sitting in a hospital bed, puking his guts out, wondering what he can do for someone else,” Mayorga said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 - 4 on 3/24/2015 under the headline “Wristbands sold for cancer fund”]
Erika Atencio, a UF biology freshman, hugs her friend Ian Supra, who has battled stage 4 esophageal cancer for more than a year. After hearing of Supra’s diagnosis in January 2014, Atencio and a group of her friends raised money to offset Supra’s medical bills by selling “Supra Strong,” bracelets and T-shirts.
