Brandan and Mary DeNuccio of 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 5 are back on social media with new donation page– this time to cover not just their children’s, but also Mary’s grandpa’s medical bills– and want fans to have an open mind despite their past donation schemes.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Brandan and Mary explained that their family has fallen on tough medical times again and is in need of support from fans.
“We really thought we wouldn’t have to ask for help again, but we’re going through a difficult time,” they wrote. “We had money saved for emergencies, but after my grandpa was hospitalized because of a stroke, both Midnight and Summer [the couple’s young daughters] ended up in the hospital too. We used our savings for their hospital bills, food while staying in the city, and the medications they need at home.
“Thankfully, Midnight and Summer are doing much better now, and we’re all back home,” they continued. “My grandpa is still in the hospital, but he’s improving. A CT scan confirmed he had a stroke, and we’re all hoping he’ll be discharged tomorrow. His hospital bill keeps growing every day, and we’ll also need help covering his medications once he’s home. We’re not forcing anyone to donate, we’re simply asking for help from anyone who is willing. We know some people may judge or screenshot this, but if you don’t want to help, that’s okay. Please just keep scrolling.”
They concluded by thanking their supporters and all who chose to contribute towards their Ko-Fi fundraiser online.
On Friday, Brandan posted a video to Facebook showing videos of Mary’s grandpa (who they call Lolo) in the hospital before he was officially diagnosed as having had a stroke. He explained that Lolo had gone to the market to pick up groceries to make dinner and bystanders noticed he was having a hard time talking and walking, so they contacted Brandan and the rest of the family to bring him to the emergency room. He went on to say that doctors were attributing Lolo’s symptoms to high blood pressure.
“I guess if you eat a lot of pork and have high blood pressure, that’s not good,” Brandan noted.
Mary went on to post a tribute to Lolo hours later, calling him “the strongest man in the world” and thanking him for always being there for her and her brothers as they grew up and started families of their own.
“Now it’s my turn to take care of you, just like you spent your whole life taking care of me,” she wrote.
Later that day, the couple shared thermometer readings taken off of their two children, ranging from 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit to 105.2 degrees Fahrenheit. (For reference, the temperature in Brandan and Mary’s hometown near Manila that day was around 90 degrees Fahrenheit with 91 percent humidity– AKA really hot and humid.)
The couple took the kids to the same hospital Lolo was at after Midnight vomited– which they chose (for some reason) to record and post online– and they were there for about a day before being sent home.
Brandan and Mary made another post requesting kindness during their difficult time, as their posts had raised eyebrows amongst longtime “90 Day Fiancé” fans. In their post, the couple told detractors that, while everyone is entitled to their opinion, they hope one day the doubters will “understand that behind every post is a real family doing its best to get through a difficult time.”
“We’re not asking everyone to love us or support us,” they wrote in part. “If helping isn’t for you, that’s completely okay. But kindness doesn’t cost anything.”
Much of the criticism Brandan and Mary received presumably stems from their previous fundraising fiascos, including two years ago when the couple came under fire after raising more than $1,300 as Mary was treated for colon cancer, which she didn’t actually have.
As The Ashley previously reported, Mary told fans in February 2024 that doctors needed to remove the cancer they had found “before it’s too late.” Brandan ultimately told fans that Mary wasn’t ever diagnosed with colon cancer, but rather assumed she had it after watching TikTok videos.
“Just to be clear: we don’t know if Mary has colon cancer yet,” Brandan admitted after posting the fundraiser details. “She posted on her [Instagram] that she [has] colon cancer because she [watched] TikTok videos of what [are] the symptoms of colon cancer and she [had] all of it, and on [February] 16 we went to the center [to] have her checkup and the nurse said maybe she got a UTI or appendicitis and a possible colon cancer. That’s why Mary is scared.”
Go-Get-Funding, the site Brandan and Mary used to fundraise, pulled the couple’s page days later, though Mary told fans the money that was donated had already been spent. The former TLC stars apologized to fans and insisted they did not mean to deceive them. (Mary claimed that, although she did not have colon cancer, she was diagnosed with an inflamed liver, a blood infection, a UTI and hemorrhoids.)
After their second child Summer was born in June, Brandan and Mary posted another fundraiser as their baby suffered from breathing issues, garnering more criticism from “90 Day Fiancé” fans.
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(Photos: TLC; Facebook; Instagram)
