Our family is raising money in memory of our beloved wife and mother, Diana Leigh Tomkinson, to contribute to research to support the identification and detection of malignancies from fibroids (leiomyomas). Diana fought a difficult and courageous battle for nearly 4 years with a dedicated medical and family team chasing her malignancy in the abdomen, lung, brain and eventually the spine. Despite the challenges, she remained ever hopeful that the next therapy would manage her disease but ultimately she lost the battle choosing hospice and dying at home on the 19th of February 2020 surrounded by the love of her family.   

Diana’s experience was similar to many women that are diagnosed with uterine fibroids - with a critical exception - her’s were hiding a malignancy that would eventually take her life at 60. She was diagnosed with uterine fibroids in her 30s and went through multiple embolizations to try and control the symptoms before deciding to undergo a hysterectomy at 56. Unfortunately, during the preoperative workup, a 12 cm mass in her abdomen was identified. The mass was eventually diagnosed as a rare sarcoma, perivascular epithelioid cell neoplasms (PEComa). The PEComa metastasized to the lung and brain, making for an incredibly difficult battle. Diana ultimately endured 11 treatments, both chemotherapy and targeted agents, 2 brain surgeries, and 12 rounds of radiation - often with some level of response but it was short-lived in any one location.  

In her memory, we hope to initially raise $100,000 that will be used to support research to improve identification of cancer hidden by fibroids. Early detection is critical to prevent the devastation our family endured and with your support we hope to help other families’ wives, mothers and grandmothers avoid the same struggle as our Diana.