This will be the best story of “Buffalo” week. Last winter, we met Ryan Patota and Nicholas Howard, who began a Go Fund Me page for juvenile diabetes awareness after Mark Andrews’ infamous drop against the Bills and the online bullying began in the aftermath of a tough playoff loss for the Baltimore Ravens. Nestor welcomes the heroic young Patota back onto the show to tell his special journey in life and why you’ll want to help support this aspiring sports journalist’s efforts for Breakthrough. Watch and be inspired!

Catching up with aspiring sports journalist and Bills fan Ryan Patota on his Buffalo GoFundMe page for Mark Andrews to benefit juvenile diabetes

Transcript

Nestor Aparicio interviews Ryan Patota, a sports journalism student at Canisius University, about his GoFundMe initiative for juvenile diabetes in support of Ravens tight end Mark Andrews. Ryan and his friend Nick Tower created the page after Andrews faced online bullying. The campaign raised $146,624, with a goal of $160,000. Ryan shares his personal health challenges, including two kidney transplants, and his involvement in sports broadcasting at Canisius. He predicts a close game between the Bills and Ravens, with the Ravens winning 34-31. Nestor commends Ryan’s efforts and plans to donate to the cause.

Ryan Patota’s Introduction and Background

• Nestor Aparicio introduces Ryan Patota, an aspiring sports journalist and Bills fan, who is studying Sports Journalism at Canisius University.
• Nestor recalls a previous conversation with Ryan and his father, who is a Philadelphia sports fan.
• Ryan shares his current status as a junior majoring in journalism with a concentration in sports broadcasting and a minor in communications.
• Nestor humorously mentions his own experiences with Buffalo wings and the quality of wings at Bill’s Bar in Williamsville.

The GoFundMe Initiative for Mark Andrews

• Nestor recalls a previous GoFundMe initiative started by Ryan and his college roommate Nick Tower in response to Mark Andrews being bullied online.
• Ryan explains the purpose of the GoFundMe page, which aimed to support juvenile diabetes, a cause close to Mark Andrews’ heart.
• The initiative gained significant traction, with contributions from Bills fans and the NFL community.
• Ryan and Nick were honored at a gala for their efforts, where they learned about the impact of type one diabetes on children.

Ryan’s Personal Health Journey

• Ryan shares his personal health journey, including two kidney transplants and his condition of epidermal dysplasia.
• He credits the medical teams at UPMC in Pittsburgh and NYU for saving his life.
• Nestor relates his own experiences with health-related charities and the importance of empathy and support.
• Ryan discusses his ongoing involvement in the GoFundMe initiative and its impact on the juvenile diabetes community.

Ryan’s Career Aspirations and Current Activities

• Ryan talks about his career aspirations in sports journalism and his experience working behind the scenes at ESPN production.
• He describes his role in creating graphics, managing audio, and working on replays for athletic events at Canisius University.
• Ryan also mentions his weekly segment, “Around Canisius Athletics,” where he recaps various sports events.
• Nestor offers to connect Ryan with industry professionals like Chris Pica for further career guidance.

Predictions for the Bills vs. Ravens Game

• Ryan discusses his expectations for the upcoming Bills vs. Ravens game, emphasizing the importance of the home-field advantage for the Bills.
• He highlights the Ravens’ defensive improvements and the impact of losing Nashville Harris for the first four games of the season.
• Ryan predicts a close game, with the Ravens winning by a narrow margin, 34-31.
• Nestor and Ryan share their mutual respect for each other and the positive impact of Ryan’s initiatives on the community.

Catching up with aspiring spor…s to benefit juvenile diabetes

Fri, Aug 29, 2025 1:29PM • 25:38

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Buffalo Bills, Mark Andrews, juvenile diabetes, GoFundMe, Ryan Patota, sports journalism, Canisius University, NFL community, type one diabetes, fundraising, Bills Mafia, ESPN production, sports broadcasting, charity event, social media.

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SPEAKERS

Speaker 1, Ryan Patota, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N S T. Am 1570 task of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are coming at you here for football on Sunday night. Luke is out in Owings Mills for all things Ravens. And you can follow along if you’re in the W n s t tech service, you’ll get all Breaking News First, as you always do, even some Orioles news if there isn’t anything weird going on there, usually bad news this time of the year when it comes to the Orioles, but hopefully good news in regard to the Ravens on Sunday night kicking off in Buffalo. Last time we checked in in Buffalo, I was eating wings at Bill’s bar in Williamsville, thinking the Orioles were going to be magical this year, Luke Jones and I had the pleasure of going up to Toronto and do an opening day. Had a good time. I had this young man on the show back after the fateful night in Buffalo or mark Andrews dropped one, fumbled one, Lamar this, that, and it didn’t go our way in January. We’re hoping goes a little different, with different with different stakes on Sunday night, but in the aftermath of the game, a young man in Buffalo and his his college roommate created a GoFundMe in regard to charity, in regard to random acts of nastiness, in regard to mark Andrews. And I want to welcome back on, because I promised him in January there’d be a timpani here to say, How much money did you kids raise doing this? And who did you raise it for? And this was back in like January, when everybody’s getting their feelings hurt about the Ravens being eliminated, and buffalo continued to play, but not for too much longer, and did not win the Super Bowl. Ryan patota is our defending champion. He is up in Buffalo. He is a student foolishly, and I’ve reminded him this nine months ago of Sports Journalism at Canisius University, where I once chased a girl through the airport in Nashville. It did not work out well for my cousin’s wedding, neither did his marriage, but that was four decades ago, Ryan did a really cool thing, and I’m gonna let him retell the story in his own way, because I think it probably has some distance. I have some distance. I have never met Ryan, but I have dine with his father. Ryan was too busy doing like, sports journalism work, so for some ESPN thing in Buffalo, the day when Luke and I blew through and you know, you had your chance to go to to lunch with one real journalist, Luke Jones and one non real journalist me, but your dad was an awesome guy. We had a great conversation with Philadelphia sports. And I will say this, Ryan, and I mean this. I said this to Vic Carucci. I said it to John warrow the other day. I told Tasker this, when I got together with him, the best wings I’ve ever had, the best beef on weck I’ve ever had. I had at that joint with your dad. And if I have beef and Weck again at that joint and I don’t have it with you, there’s there should be an investigation. But, like, I’m already plotting, I’m not coming to the game this week in Buffalo, because Chad Steele is not only intimidating me, but others, in regard to press box considerations, which you’ll learn about as a journalist, that when you write stories about Justin Tucker or talk about Justin Tucker or talk about, you know, things that happen on and off the field, you’ll be intimidated as a journalist, but in the meantime, you meet nice people like me willing to buy You wings, dude, how are you? How’s your career going? Most importantly, man, I

Ryan Patota  03:24

mean, it’s been crazy lately, getting back into the swing. This is the first week of classes for myself, first week of classes really, for everyone back at Canisius. So we’re just getting back in the string of things here at here at Canisius.

Nestor Aparicio  03:39

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What are you? Junior, senior, sophomore, were you? I’m a junior,

Ryan Patota  03:44

majoring in journalism with a connotation in sports broadcasting and journalism and minoring in communications. So right up your alley.

Nestor Aparicio  03:52

Oh, yeah. Well, you give you some practice here on the show here. All right, so the game goes the way the game goes. You are a lifelong buffalonian. I know a lot about you and your illnesses and your health hurdles and all this neato torpedo stuff, but you’re kidding, a dorm and Canisius with your buds watching the bills the game ends like I’m thinking, I don’t know how much you drink. I like a little bit of beer. I’ve had some labatts and some, you know, I’ve had the backside of the Jenny thing from the Genesee Cream Ale is, I think I told you I fell in love one time in Geneseo. Had a girlfriend there. The whole deal. Buffalo was involved, where SIG was involved. He’s on the show this week. He’s a real sports journalist as well. And I tell you what you did in the aftermath. I’m gonna let you pick the story up. I think a lot of people in Baltimore sort of, yeah, there was that kid that did that thing, and I went online and I gave him 20 bucks, and it seemed like such a nice thing to do. And, I mean, this was a lot of Bills fans, the bills mafia is really what came together, which your people. But get give me the story again as to how this GoFundMe thing happened, and your general. Atrocity and your sort of leadership on taking on the beaten down part of Mark Andrews, who literally was being bullied online in the aftermath he and his family,

Ryan Patota  05:10

yeah, not good for Mark Andrews getting the heat that he had on social media. So me and my friend Nick tower, who was unable to join us today, he me and him got together, and he came up with an idea of, hey, let’s make a GoFundMe page. Let’s go search of what Mark Andrews is, you know, a part of for, you know, dealing with type of diabetes, with his disease. And let’s make something good out of it, because you get a lot of heat online. Obviously, you know, this industry has Betty has a big betting industry. So, you know, when he drops the ball, people bet on the ratings, or they bet on, oh, touching. He’s good, got the two point conversion here, and then he drops it. You know, people are gonna get pissed off and everything. But then they took it to a different level of the hate, and we saw all that, and we’re like, that’s not deserving at all. We understand that people get upset, you know, when the moment happens. But you know, to do all the extra stuff, it’s really was unnecessary. So what we designed to do is, you know, give that picture, which is breakthrough, type one diabetes, formerly known as JDRF, what we decided to do, and we made a GoFundMe and spread it out into the village mafia. And then that really blew up, because we got a couple of village creators. They spread out, really to the throughout social media, and I got out to the NFL community, and then the village faculty and everyone they got together and started donating a lot of money to the bracelet type one diabetes program. They actually reached out to me and Nick themselves. It was very, very special. They actually honored us at a gala that they had here in Buffalo. And it was very special, because you got to learn, you know, what these kids are going through. I mean, this unbelievable. And this is what this money charity is going to go to, is going to help out these kids and getting trying to defeat type one diabetes. It is really, really special on what, what these kids are going through. Just such a saying.

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Nestor Aparicio  07:26

Well, my wife is diabetic, so I think I told you that last time, um, and Mark Andrews, obviously, you wears the same thing my wife that monitors her sugar on her front. So what’s the number? Now, where’s our I wanted, you’re not old enough to remember. To Jerry Lewis, telethon. We had a Labor Day telethon for Muscular Dystrophy back in the day. And you know, they treat epic man. What’s the timpani? So how much money have you raised? And is it still ongoing? Can I go to this GoFundMe right this minute and give money or no?

Ryan Patota  07:57

Yeah, I think it should be still up. I think it’s very like in the

Nestor Aparicio  08:03

how do I find it? Tell me right now, let’s go to go fund me. Well, it would say Mark Andrews and I Okay, and I’ll put bills and I’ll put ravens, and let me see what happens here. Support, let’s see. Let’s see support marks, charity for juvenile diabetes. I’m on here right now. As many of you know, ravens tight end wasn’t able to catch the game tying. Two point conversion upset Ravens fans link to the bio here at the buffalo brief. Is that you Ryan the buffalo

Speaker 1  08:33

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brief? Yes, that’s me at Nick’s Instagram, alright. Well, I’m on the

Nestor Aparicio  08:38

page here right now. It is raised here. I can I play the role of Ed McMahon? Do you even know who Ed McMahon

Speaker 1  08:44

is? I heard of him before get those

Nestor Aparicio  08:47

Publishers Clearing House. He went through the $1 million giveaway. So anyway, Johnny, so that that was Ed McMahon. So 146,624 $6,624 raised to support marks, charity for juveniles with diabetes. You can go to the website. I’m going to link out to it through this. Ryan patota is my guest. So when did they Gala? You up and was there like, you know, was like a chicken kiev, sir, well, you’re in Buffalo. It’s probably chicken wings served up there. But the gala, I’ve been a part of these galas many times, in many ways, don’t tell anybody, but when I shave and I do my hair, nice to even let me emcee them from time to time, for cancer and for diabetes, which is always the greatest night of my year. When was the event for you and Nick

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Ryan Patota  09:36

This was back in April, mid April, this happened. We got reached out shortly after the bill season had ended. We got reached out to race with type one diabetes, the organization, and they connected us to our organization, where they actually made us some T shirts, which is very, very special. We’re very thankful that we. Made us back to did something special for us, trying to recognize us for what we did. And, you know, eventually got up to the the main person called name Max, we worked with type one diabetes in Rochester and San Francisco area and it was really special. We reached out to me. I also watched with him together. He admitted and then he’s like, to recognize your guy, who you can meet all the people that are dealing with type one diabetes and what this disease is asking about. And we’re like, absolutely. I mean, why not? I would love to meet the people who suffer through these disease on a day by day basis, and how this disease really affects them, that we really have to hear their stories and everything. It was really special, and we got recognized. And we’re very thankful that. Thank you to Matt at type one diabetes of upstate New York.

Nestor Aparicio  11:07

Well, I’ll tell you what, I will make sure we that he gets wings with us. He probably knows how good the beef and Weck is up there at Bill’s bar up in the Williamsville sweet Hey, by the way, I think Carucci on he’s in the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. It’s like, right around the corner. So, like, I could do the whole thing there, and like, probably do the Hall of Fame. And, you know, see all of the Steve Tasker stuff that, no doubt there, Jaworski and whatever else is up there, Don crickie, apparently. So there’s a lot of buffalo history up so you are a sports journalism major or communications. Give everybody your background as far as what your goals and what you’re going to do with your career once you take my job,

Ryan Patota  11:46

yeah, well, hopefully I’ll take your job because you I

Nestor Aparicio  11:52

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don’t want to do this anymore. You come do it. That’s alright. They’ll give you a breast pass you. You’re nicer guy to me, right? You can, you can have my W, N, st seat in the Buffalo press box next week. There you go.

Ryan Patota  12:04

So my background is, I wanted to be, you know, blown off my name, my own YouTube channel, because I grew up, you know, listening to sports analysis call games, and I’m like, come on, that seems very interesting. And with my background and everything behind the scenes is felt like a job where, you know, it would fit what I want to do. So I made a YouTube channel back when I was like seven or eight years old. It was called Fox 87 I’m sure people, if they sure, took my date and then probably gonna see it. But anyways, I made a YouTube channel without a little kid. And did you know sports videos called, you know, different segments on the bills, of course, while they were in their 17 year playoffs, you know? So those were hard years to watch. But anyways, got that going. Got that up to 2000 subscribers, actually. But unfortunately, YouTube had to do their thing and take my channel down, apparently, due to copyright strengths, even though I wasn’t, you know, playing doing any, you know, putting on a YouTube video zone. So

Nestor Aparicio  13:17

we’re gonna start your new one. Is what we need to do, you know? Yeah, that’s fine. You know, if you have the old films, you can still upload them. I upload the old films from back when I had short hair and I was, well, I wasn’t really younger. I’m still trying to stay young around here. I mean, is there anything you want to say about your journey in life and your illnesses and the people you know? One of the things about this, and one of the things about Baltimore positive for me, and you can ask around, and you can watch the 25th anniversary thing. For me, I’ve done things for charities, going back to diabetes and cancer and leukemia, before I understood what leukemia was that my wife got it 10 years ago. Obviously, the diabetic thing that you’re doing hits home with me, with my wife and diabetes, but it took me spending time with your dad to understand what you’ve been through, to understand what empathy is about, and also what about fundraising is about. And also, what about support is about when you have health related concerns that involve not just your health and wellness but your ability to stay alive and needing other people,

Ryan Patota  14:16

right? Yeah, so obviously I had, unfortunately, two TV sales plans that were done. You know where the raid and survival is that would be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the folks down there at UPMC, killing toffo, down there, they did their job for me. They found they did two kidney kids play because unfortunately, the first one failed. And I have a syndrome called epidermal dysplasia, where, unfortunately causes you, you know, to not avoid some function with, you know, missing tensions, and have a cleft lip and pound. So unfortunately, how to do that? The great folks at a. NYU in New York City and all that talk, Jeremy, but

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Nestor Aparicio  15:05

you know, to Pittsburgh in New York saved your life, is what you’re telling all right, you know? I mean, I always look, I get along with Tomlin, you know, I go to, I go to New York all the time. So you can hate the Yankees and still like New York, right? Oh, absolutely right, Yankees. So listen, you’re Canisius right now. What’s going on with your career, other than being the big celebrity raising money for great causes, like the last time that I tried to even meet you and have lunch with you, your dad came out, who’s a Philadelphia fan, which is a whole different thing. And I did have a really, really good Philadelphia sub shop experience too. So I’m going to share that with your dad. It with your dad. It’s in it’s in Delaware. Don’t tell anybody, but it’s all part of me eating. I eat a lot for skinny guy, dude, let me just say, I talk a lot about eating here, but you know, for you and what you’ve been through when I was with your dad, you couldn’t even join me that day. And I’m like, What’s wrong with this kid? And your dad’s like, he’s got an internship. You got, like, there was some soccer game, some Donald with the elder lacrosse. I don’t even know what it was, but, like, you couldn’t even have lunch with me because you’re getting gigs up in Buffalo right now, right you got a gig?

Ryan Patota  16:09

Yes. So today’s is, obviously, we have a ESPN studio. We moved for the viewers out there. We put a viewers out there. We what police’s and a lot of colleges do they have, they do sports broadcast for their games, broadcasting all their athletic events. And the platform that we use and what other colleges also use throughout the country, I’m sure television uses this as well. You know, in Maryland, obviously uses big 10 plus, say,

Nestor Aparicio  16:43

comp and state, because they’re my partner, Coppin State, use the Compton state sports.com you get everything right.

Ryan Patota  16:50

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Anyways, we use ESPN plus. You know that platform, sure. So all of our broadcast events go out to ESPN plus, or the golden Griffin broadcast network. You can go search out at gold grips.com but what I do at there is that I work behind the scenes there, so you made it. I do. I work on audio, which is basically playing with the audio floor, making sure sounds you’re working and everything you know, graphics, making graphics for a pair of graphics for the game, working replay in the bag, you know, making sure things go smoothly. You know, putting make going, putting the broadcast into break mode, making sure we’re going off air. So that’s basically what I do, activities. I’m a student worker, and working at the ESPN production, the very special place that I really got involved in. Really what made me want to come to Kinesis, being from Buffalo, right up my alley. I also do a segment there every week called around Kinesis athletics with a couple of friends there as well. You can search it up around Canadians athletic right here on YouTube, or really anywhere that person. What we do is that we go through Week by week and recap all the sports in a little two minute two and a half minute video right around there, short little clip that we do around Casey athletic is we have all the sports around Kinesis. What happened? What do they do? Well, I mean, what important that happened from those games? So we basically take those on Mondays, and, yeah, it’s been really special. I think I gotten a lot of experience there behind the scenes at the ESG production. And really, I came into TDC wanted to become a sports broadcaster. I mean, of course, that I’ve gotten that experience, I feel like a reporter doing around kinesicle. But I also got the behind the scenes look of how, you know, a sports production work, you know, running the Scripture like doing behind the scenes where, like, maybe people don’t, don’t see on a TV broadcast unless they’re really, really wired. I’m gonna put

Nestor Aparicio  19:11

you in touch with my boy, Chris pica, who does that, plays that role for ESPN and all sorts of places, and flies all these places, the stack guys behind the scenes, like my buddy Russell in I’ve known these people my whole life, growing up with them there. Sometimes there are some of my greatest guests. Ryan patota is here. He is up in Buffalo, New York, but don’t hold that against him. He is one of the two guys who put together a GoFundMe for Mark Andrews for juvenile diabetes and what they do there with and the links to all this, I want to put it all up because it’s for the breakthrough folks and and breakthrough really is juvenile diabetes. JDRF, if you remember that sort of in a rebrand there for anybody in those diabetics. I’m married to one as well, a great cause, a cool thing. And Ryan’s a kid doing sports broadcasting and sports. Journalism up at Canisius, who’s had his own health battles. But right now, we’ll put you on the spot, because we got, like a real last time I got together with you, was all bleeding heart this, and give money that, and you still won and we still lost, zero and zero. Everybody’s undefeated here Sunday night. Break this one down for me so I can, like, text you Monday morning and either say, kid knows football or Haha, you lost this time. You know, I don’t, I don’t know. But how do you feel about the bills? How do you feel about the Ravens? Certainly, the Ravens have had a really successful off season and making the team better, and the bills are trying to build on what they had last year. This time last year, the bills look like a diminished team. And in the end, Josh Allen won the MVP because he had less tools around him, and the team went further. How you feeling about the bills? Ryan

Ryan Patota  20:51

was going to tell it’s gonna be a tough game for the bills, you know? But the good thing is that it’s in Buffalo, and, you know, it’s a park. That’s that’s the big, important thing. I feel like, if this was the game in Vaughn works, I don’t have really, like, a high chance of winning because, you know, forward coming down, they’re going to be really, really hungry, you know, wanting to get their revenge, especially on the military, revs up their defense during the all season. I think they have a splendid draft, by the way, especially getting my kind of start in the first round. And they just picked Kyle Hammonton this past week, the Ravens said, you know, the village, they tried to maintain their defensive lines leaving during the off season. They picked up Joey gossa from the Chargers they got. They drafted a couple of defensive linemen throughout the draft, checking through the fourth round, Deon Walker, a couple of means like that, Landon Jackson as well. But unfortunately, they’re going to lose Nashville Harris in their first round jacket for the first four games of the season, so the raids will be missing that that’s going to be a big loss. I feel for the village. They’re gonna have to have guys step up. They had a couple of injuries that they suffered throughout training camp, which is really good news for the raids. But as long as you have got shame, obviously, for Lamar Jackson, for the Raiders, I mean, as long as you have your franchise quarterback, your team is always going to have a chance to go to the super got a chance. You know, good season go deep into the playoffs. I just feel like this game is really a hard fought battle. I mean, you have any give me score prediction. Go ahead. Come on, man, come on. I just feel like, I feel like the village are gonna pull get get something late at the buzzer. Sorry, maintenance. Fans were listening out there. I think Tyler best if he’s healthy, if he’s healthy. Now he’s been dealing with some injury and some illness himself, and he’s healthy. I don’t think the bills worked out three kickers on Thursday, so we’ll see what comes this direction from that. I feel like we could be really close game 3431 is my prediction. The village will win. It’s going to be a real tough batter. I can easily see the range winner, because they’re going to be hard though. They’re, they’re really hungry for last year. They’re, they’re they’re angry. They’re angry what happened last year? So yeah,

Nestor Aparicio  23:27

we got a new kicker around here. So hearing kicker controversies in Buffalo, you ain’t seen nothing like we had here in the off season, but Tyler loop will be a big part of the story. Ryan patota is a young man who created a GoFundMe page and is his own heroic story unto himself, which I’ve gotten to know. And I owe you some buffalo wings. It’s a beef on weck. And your old man, even though he’s from Philadelphia, your buddy, who was a part of all this Nick as well. So give everybody my best up buffalo. I don’t mean that on Monday, I won’t, I won’t heckle you if we win, I won’t send you free wings if we lose, I’m giving you wings anyway, and I hope to fist bump you. Meet you soon. But you’ve inspired me, young man, so keep inspiring people up there, and I want to see you move your career along. Okay,

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Ryan Patota  24:18

yep. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for having me and all of you for us here in Buffalo.

Nestor Aparicio  24:24

Come on, man, nice people. The word even gets out you have one clap in western New York that winds up being hurt all around the NFL, and I’m up on the GoFundMe page right now for those of you so you can’t make a difference. This young man did this in the aftermath of Mark Andrews being bullied online. $146,624 that’s where I am right now. So wherever it is right now, if you go up there, there better be more money in there, because it’s still open, you can put more money in there. So it’s 92% of the goal. So they still got 160,000 is the goal. So 13,013 $376 away. So there have it, Ryan, fist bump to you. Bills bar you me, win, lose, draw. I won’t even bring up OJ and I, and certainly for your old man and the victors and the spoils of the Philadelphia Eagles, they that will not be a part of the discussion. We get together. Okay,

25:21

thank you so much. Tell your dad. I’ll bring

Nestor Aparicio  25:23

up 1983 that’s what I’ll do. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. Luke’s covering the Ravens. I’m here. We’re here. Everything is at Baltimore. Positive. We’re ready for some football. Mm.