The Story of MedAdvocate

In the quiet coastal town of Waldport, Oregon, as the Pacific fog rolled in during the early months of 2025, something extraordinary was taking shape in a small home office overlooking the ocean. It wasn't planned. It wasn't expected. But sometimes, the most powerful innovations emerge not from opportunity, but from necessity.

When the Unthinkable Strikes

Ken and Toni Mendoza were burning the midnight oil, as co-founders often do. Their company, Oregon Coast AI (oregoncoast.ai), was gaining traction with its innovative approaches to artificial intelligence. But on this particular evening, as the wind howled outside their coastal home, Toni mentioned something concerning—an increasing inflammatory pain that seemed to be getting worse.

What followed was a journey that would test their resilience, challenge the healthcare system, and ultimately birth an innovation born from personal struggle.

At a routine medical appointment, they encountered a familiar frustration: the details of Toni's evolving condition couldn't easily fit into the portion of an appointment meant for patient communication. The symptoms were complex, interconnected, and didn't follow a linear narrative—headaches, neck issues, neuropathy—nothing fit into a neat "symptoms → condition" storyline that could be efficiently communicated in the standard fifteen-minute window.

Silicon Valley Expertise Meets Rural Healthcare Reality

Ken wasn't just any concerned partner. As a former Silicon Valley Biotech Researcher and Laboratory Information Systems Programmer with three patents related to identifying targets for current ischemic stroke treatments, he had the technical expertise to approach the problem systematically.

Drawing on his experience at Oregon Coast AI, Ken began creating custom databases for symptoms and interactive AI tools to recommend what to focus on. The system evolved rapidly, becoming smarter with each iteration, helping to organize and prioritize the overwhelming amount of medical information they were accumulating.

It became clear that Toni's issues encompassed neurological problems, and with this knowledge, Ken was able to advocate for certain directions. This advocacy, combined with an amazing RN's "spidey sense," led to a decision to move aggressively with scans.

Still, nothing prepared them for what came next: the discovery of a brain tumor and cervical stenosis, compounded by an autoimmune condition that had been hiding beneath the surface, refusing to reveal itself through conventional diagnostic approaches.

The Birth of MedAdvocate

The system Ken had been perfecting became essential to handling the overwhelming amount of medical information. But a final experience proved to be the catalyst for MedAdvocate's official birth.

During a neurosurgery consult that failed to address listed symptoms and only grudgingly amended notes to acknowledge the possible impact of Toni's stenosis, Ken took matters into his own hands. He downloaded all images and wrote a full 3D MRI analysis engine—applying his Silicon Valley expertise to a deeply personal healthcare challenge.

Following standard software development practice, Ken searched GitHub for examples and projects that might serve as a foundation. The result? Nothing matched what they needed: a central place to log symptoms with time and date, record test results, and create a powerful way to communicate to disparate specialists.

What Makes MedAdvocate Different

MedAdvocate isn't just another healthcare app or patient portal. It's a comprehensive platform born from real experience and designed to solve specific challenges that existing solutions simply don't address:

• A central repository for logging symptoms with precise time and date tracking, allowing patterns to emerge that might otherwise be missed
• Comprehensive test result management that goes beyond simple storage to help patients understand implications
• AI-powered communication tools that help translate complex medical information into formats that specialists can quickly absorb
• The ability to generate comprehensive reports for second opinions from institutions like Stanford or Cleveland Clinic
• A system designed specifically for rural healthcare realities, where specialist access may be limited and patient advocacy becomes even more critical

Our Mission: Hope in the Face of Complexity

As Toni continues her recovery journey, the mission of MedAdvocate has crystallized: to help other rural residents of Oregon and beyond face complex medical issues without fear.

"It's our hope," Ken explains, "that MedAdvocate can help people not be afraid when encountering complex medical issues. We want to help healthcare providers have all the information they need and empower patients to respectfully ask good questions that help providers do their amazing job of keeping us healthy."

In the fog of medical complexity, MedAdvocate serves as a lighthouse—illuminating the path forward when the way seems darkest. Just as the Oregon Coast lighthouses have guided ships through treacherous waters for generations, this platform born on those same shores now guides patients through the sometimes turbulent waters of complex healthcare journeys.