Laine’s Mission

April 1, 2024, marked six years without my Mom, Laine. Life without her is surreal. She was diagnosed in 2015 with glioblastoma, and it was a gut punch. She was a healthy 53-year-old, lived an active lifestyle, and loved her life, work, and family. We were very proactive once we received her diagnosis. We are from a small town in Oregon and immediately sent her labs to UCLA, where she was lucky enough to get into a clinical trial there. 

Her tumor was located on the outer left side of her brain. Her surgery went well, and she immediately started her clinical trial. She responded well to it. Just when her life started to get back to normal, and she was really feeling like herself, we were hit with the devastating news that she had a reoccurrence located in her corpus callosum. 

Once again, we were very proactive with that, UCLA told us that there was nothing they could do for her so we found a doctor in Oklahoma that would operate and within three days of contacting him, my mom was on a flight and getting her surgery. It was after that surgery that she never fully recovered like she did the first time. 

Eleven months after that surgery, she passed away. She was an incredible warrior and put up such an amazing and inspirational fight. She was so positive and maintained her happiness and beautiful smile all while going through this life battle. Going through that as her caretaker was so difficult, emotionally draining, and exhausting. 

I couldn’t even imagine how she felt, but seeing her so positive was so motivating and kept my whole family pushing forward. I thought that was difficult, but I really couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to live without her. I feel the best way to describe it is that I feel untethered from Earth. It truly has been life-altering, and I don’t think that unless you have gone through it, anyone can really relate or understand. 

During our journey, I learned so much about brain cancer. A lot of times, I felt like I was educating my mom‘s doctors. It’s so important to spread awareness and get more funding towards these cancers, not all hospitals are equipped for the treatments that are actually effective for these cancers. These patients matter; they are our family, they are us, and they are not alone. My family and I will continue to spread awareness, host walks, and forever keep my mother‘s memory alive.

TAGGED WITH: glioblastoma

Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.