Our Emblematic Branch

Five years after Father Aveni’s death in the Philippines, Dr Gordon opened Aveni Medical Clinic for the treatment of cancer and blood disorders in Monterey, CA. The clinic was inaugurated on March 5, 2015 by Rogationist priest Fr Jessie Martirizar and Fr Vito Di Marzio. Dr Gordon, Dr Frederick Hall, and clinic staff were in attendance. After the blessing, one of the attendees noticed a glimmering thread of sap suspended from a tree in the courtyard, and snapped a photograph. Two months later, Dr Gordon’s nephew Alvin de Guzman was diagnosed with sarcoma. She officially closed the doors to the clinic that summer when she moved to Santa Monica to oversee his treatment. Alvin’s family tried to raise funds to produce DeltaRex-G for him, but were unable to cover manufacturing costs by the time of his death in 2017. In May 2018, Dr Gordon established Aveni Foundation in honor of Father Aveni, in tribute to Alvin, and in service of cancer patients worldwide; in particular those whom chemotherapy has failed to benefit.

Metastatic cancer is a cancer that has spread from the primary site of origin by way of the lymph or bloodstream. The aim of targeted therapy for cancer is to covertly traverse these circulatory pathways, selectively eradicating cancer cells without damage to healthy cells (as opposed to chemotherapy, which is known to be toxic to cancer cells and healthy cells alike). In the case of DeltaRex-G, this aim is accomplished by targeting signature proteins that are reliably found at the site of tumor invasion.

Sap can simply evoke the human blood and lymph as the unseen circulatory medium of a tree. But what’s further, leaking sap from a tree serves as an effective defense, and is therefore commonly found at the site of disease, infestation, or damage. And so the image serves to connect Aveni Foundation to its roots in Aveni Medical Clinic, while expressing the essence of its mission to support therapies that harness the circulation to target and effectively eradicate infiltrating disharmony—without poisoning the stream.