Join Ilsa's Mission: Raise Funds for Brain Cancer Research

My name is Ilsa and I was diagnosed with a high grade brain cancer 2 years ago, at the age of 28. My husband and I had just celebrated our first wedding anniversary, I had just barely started my career as a PA, and was training for my first marathon. The diagnosis completely turned my life sideways. Since then, I’ve gone through 18 months of treatment (brain surgery, cranial radiation, and chemotherapy). Now, 2 very hard years later, I am happy to say that I have no evidence of disease!

This cancer is very difficult to treat and has a high rate of recurrence- meaning I will be monitored for recurrence for the rest of my life.

I am finally running the Colorado Marathon in May 4th, because it was my goal to run a marathon 2 years ago; but my sudden diagnosis meant that I had to withdraw from the race. I’m very excited to be training now for my first marathon, and hope that I have a lot of years left to achieve other goals, raise a family with my husband, and spend more time with the people I love.

I am fundraising money to donate to the Mayo Clinic, specifically for brain cancer research. (For full transparency, on GoFundMe, there is no way to specify that these funds go directly to fund brain cancer research, so I will be sending the donations directly to Mayo myself). Thanks to the hard work of scientists and clinicians, a drug called Vorasidenib, was approved in the last couple of years, to treat gliomas and glioblastomas. There are other really exciting therapies being researched and it’s now a mission of mine to support these, as best I can.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last 2 years- I’m scared to think of where I’d be if it weren’t for the love and support of family, friends, and co workers. Thank you very much if you’re able to donate to this research!