Today we’d like to introduce you to Mason Saldana
Hi Mason, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My state my story as briefly as possible but still hitting the key points, it all started when I got diagnosed with severe and rare cancer called Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor in 2017 and had 277 tumors in my lower abdominal peritoneal lining. This lining of the abdominal cavity supports many of the abdominal organs and serves as a conduit for their blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, and nerves. This cancer gives you only a 15% chance at surviving 5 years at most.
In 2018 I became NED, which is no evidence of disease but my body was destroyed in the process of destroying the cancer too.
In 2019 I started going to school for acupuncture, taichi, getting hyperbaric oxygen therapy done and following the carnivore diet.
In 2020 I realized that I should share my experience online to others who were struggling like me and started taking public speaking classes, voice acting lessons, studying and researching books on how to become a social media influencer and also on how to shoot a video that doesn’t suck.
In 2022, that’s when my social media started picking up attraction and was getting hundreds of thousands of comments and likes for my affirmation positive self talk videos, acupressure videos, Taoist philosophy videos, and tai chi/qigong videos.
As of this year, 2025, I am on my last year of my masters degree and starting my doctoral degree in acupuncture and herbal medicine, and will be taking my state and national board licensing exams to become a professional acupuncturist in the state of California and soon after that, Nevada, Las Vegas, my home town.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No it has not been a smooth road to say the least. During my cancer I was married and divorced from 2017-2019.
I was addicted to my prescribed opioids from from 2017-2019.
Addicted to food but was unable to eat due to blockages in my intestines from 2018-2020 because of the chemotherapy, surgery, HIPEC procedure, radiation and immunotherapy. I had tube feeding via my stomach but it all still was blocked and therefore I had to eat my calories through an IV drip directly into my blood stream but it only gave me about 1200kcal and my body was withering away fast. On top of that, I would attempt to eat but then would end up voiding it out via my stomach tube and therefore becoming bulimic while also being addicted to eating because I was starving simultaneously.
After I beat my addictions and healed my stomach so that I could eat normally again, in 2021 I was severely depressed from everything that I experienced up until then. Due to my depression, I was easily targeted and gullible for any help or connection and was sexually assaulted at an ayahuasca ceremony by the male lead facilitator who invited me to go there in the first place.
In 2022 I decided to move back to Vegas so that I could be surrounded by my family and familiar faces so that I could restore my trust in the world.
During 2022, I ended up quitting school, quitting work, and quitting social media and went off to Japan from November – January 2023 and lived at a Zen temple for 3 of those weeks. Unfortunately, during the first 3 weeks while I stayed at a yoga teachers house (who I met on IG) with her and her family, the 50 year old woman attempted to have sex with me and sexually assaulted me multiple times there too for about 3 weeks, but that’s when I decided I needed to retreat to a Zen temple and get some peace finally in my life.
From 2022-2024, I worked at the Palms Hotel & Casino Pool for 2 years from starting at the very bottom of being a pool attendant, then food runner, then Barback, and finally a bartender. Additionally, I also was working at The Sand dollar lounge which is a live music dive bar venue as a Barback, from 2023-2024. All of this helped me figure out how to socialize again and how to read people more effectively so that I can trust myself to make connections with the right people, going forward in my life.
In 2024 July, I moved back to Los Angeles and am here to finish what I started and become an acupuncturist, train tai chi and enjoy my life to the fullest extent possible, but in a reasonable way that’s not too flashy or anything.
All I care to have is a cute girlfriend, financial freedom and to help people heal from their illnesses, physically or psychologically. No expensive cars or home, no fame, no tremendous amounts of money. Just a simple life to enjoy the simple things.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m known for my Instagram social media and focus on acupuncture & traditional eastern medicine which includes Taoist philosophy and taichi/qigong meditation.
Other than that, I’m also known for beating cancer in my small community of fellow cancer warriors who also have a soft tissue sarcoma.
I’m most proud of beating my cancer but am also proud of how far I’ve come since being diagnosed.
Everything I do in my social media is dedicated to other people similar to the issues I’ve had or am having in life and I hope any of it helps whoever whenever or wherever they are.
What sets me apart from everyone else isn’t much probably but I do believe that I have a crazy mindset to achieve what I have and that it has helped save my life and push me further than I could have ever of dreamed.
My relentless attitude for never giving up may be from my obsession with watching anime from since I was a little kid to presently today. Each anime I watch preaches Taoist philosophy and an attitude that never surrenders and keeps striving for a solution no matter how dark it may seem.
That is probably the main difference I can tell that sets me apart from a lot of people who are in similar situations as me.
My favorite anime is Yu Yu Hakusho and the protagonist, Yusuke Urameshi was always a tough guy with a good heart and knew how to stand up to bullies and bad guys while maintaining a cool attitude. I can’t say I’m anywhere near that cool of guy but that’s what I admire and respect and always think about what would he do in whatever situation I am in. Never giving up is one of them though, that’s for sure.
What were you like growing up?
I was shy, low confidence, sort of smart but never really studied enough to care about getting straight A’s. Somewhat athletic and usually pretty good at sports, as long as they didn’t require hand eye coordination. (I grew up wrestling through college). My interests were in music, art, going to parties and drinking with my friends while hitting on girls and getting turned down by most of them because my game is terrible and I’m pretty blunt and honest about what I feel and usually say whatever comes to my mind immediately with no filter.
I enjoyed playing video games like Warcraft frozen throne or Diablo 2. I played trombone from middle school through high school. Like I said before, wrestled all through high school and got 4th and 3rd in state and then wrestled in college but didn’t care about wrestling as much because I already had a scholarship so I lost my motivation to place in any big tournaments.
Enjoyed drinking like I said before, usually too much on the weekends and had a lot of wild times with my friends all the time.
Loved making music playlists for my friends and aspire to be an old school hiphop dj one day but just waiting for the right time to be able to afford the equipment and start practicing as soon as school starts to settle down and I’m more settled in my new place in LA.
Pricing:
- N/A
Contact Info:
- Website: https://masefudogg.com
- Instagram: @masefudogg
- Facebook: Mason Saldana or @masefudogg
- LinkedIn: Mason Saldana
- Youtube: masefudogg
Image Credits
N/A
