Nina's Battle with Glioblastoma

Our mom Nina was recently diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiforme stage 4 (also known as GBM) in October 2022. She is a retired elementary school teacher, a mother of three girls, Grammy to three, the eldest sister of nine siblings, and a friend to countless. She is the glue of our family and absolutely loved by everyone she meets. Unfortunately, she now needs more help than she knows how to ask for.

Glioblastoma is the most common form of malignant brain cancer in adults, yet most people have never heard of it, including us, until now. It is very aggressive and grows quickly to invade and destroy healthy tissue. There currently is no cure, and treatment is only to slow cancer growth and to reduce symptoms. The average life expectancy for patients who undergo treatment is 12-18 months from diagnosis and only about 5% of patients survive more than five years.

It started the summer of 2022 when Mom started feeling off. She was irritable, seeing double vision, and had trouble reading and remembering basic sentences. When she called her doctor to discuss her symptoms, they rushed her in the same day for testing. They discovered a tumor growing on the occipital lobe portion of her brain and via biopsy was diagnosed with advanced Glioblastoma.

October 2022: Mom underwent brain surgery where they were only able to remove 10% of the mass without majorly disrupting her senses, however the tumor has already done some damage to her peripheral vision and her ability to quickly process some things. She healed quickly from the surgery and had to relearn basic functions, such reading or to put on a pair of pants correctly. She’s a quick learner and we only had to tell her things once (or twice) for her to remember, which is a great sign! She can no longer drive, but she didn't like driving anyway.

February 2023: She just finished her first round of simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation. She responded well and didn’t have any major side effects, aside from fatigue and losing a large patch of hair only where the radiation was targeted. Her recent MRI showed the tumor is stable but continues to grow and she is set to tackle 6 more aggressive rounds of chemo over the next 6-8 months.

Mom’s siblings have been such a great help by staying with her and taking her to and from appointments, making sure she's comfortable and in good spirits. And though she only has one daughter that lives around the corner from her in California, her other two daughters have been coming over regularly from NYC and Texas to help as much as possible to help keep her comfy and cozy. She has regained steady feet and is able to complete daily tasks much easier, though her eyesight continues to weaken.

Mom is super strong, faith filled, and always sees the bright side of things. This definitely hasn't been her first struggle in life, but we do want to make this one as painless as possible for her. Our family is asking for support to keep her comfortable through this tough time and to make her moments memorable with as little stress. Mom is retired on a fixed income and unfortunately widowed, so this fundraiser will help pay for her incoming medical bills, medication co-pays, groceries, gas for doctor visits, home help, and any unforeseen bills along the way.