Help Angela Fight Glioblastoma

Our sister, Angela, is a 31-year-old recently diagnosed with a Glioblastoma tumor (an aggressive, incurable brain tumor). She is a devoted wife, sister, and mother to her 6-month-old daughter.

Angela represented Bellarmine University at the national level in college, becoming a multi-time All-American. Upon the retirement of her college coach, she returned to serve the team she loved and became the head women’s track and cross country coach. This year, she and her husband welcomed a beautiful daughter into their family.

In October, out on a typical run after closing practice and putting her daughter down, Angela experienced a seizure. By the time an ambulance arrived, she felt almost completely ok, but to be safe, she decided to go to the hospital. There, they found a small tumor on her brain that doctors felt they could quickly deal with. With brain surgery scheduled several days away, Angela's primary concerns were feeding her daughter, comforting her siblings and keeping tabs on the college athletes she coached. Meanwhile, the rest of us were scared and concerned about brain surgery.

During surgery, the doctors discovered that the tumor was more diffuse in her brain tissue than initially believed, and they knew that more removal was necessary. While waking from the surgery, doctors predicted severe motor function impairment. They thought Angela, running days earlier, might never be able to move her left leg. Angela wouldn’t be deterred. Within days, she was walking on her own, and within a week, she showed remarkable progress in physical therapy in all skills.

As her family and friends celebrated what appeared to be a successful and incredible result, the biopsy returned devastating news of a terminal diagnosis. Glioblastoma is an aggressive and rare form of brain tumor with no cure, and the five-year Glioblastoma survival rate for adults is only 6.8%. The mean survival rate in adults is 15 months.

Angela won’t quit. She has a family to fight for. Her health, age, and successful surgery mean she has realistic, medically significant factors backing her as she pushes to be someone her daughter knows.

She cannot fight this on her own. To receive the best care, she needs funds to travel and seek clinical trials that could ensure more time with her family. This fight isn’t just for her. This fight is for more research and better treatments. Please consider supporting Angela and her family in this fight. If you can’t donate, please consider sharing this story for her and others like her.

If any funds collected are not put directly toward Angela's treatment, she plans to donate them to the research and development of new treatments and therapy for Glioblastoma.

We appreciate your support. Visit this website to learn more about this disease.