February 17th, 2021 was the day our entire lives changed. My grandmother was in the hospital with multiple intestinal blockages and my mom, as you all know her as Cheryl, was there visiting. I still can remember getting the text message from her asking when I got off work because she thought she had a stroke or a seizure. Thankfully she was right where she needed to be, in the hospital.  After further testing they determined she had a low-grade seizure and... they found something. A tumor/mass or as she called it “her cashew” in the right side of her brain. They called it “small” (2cmx2cm) but to us that is huge, but she remained so positive.

She was discharged Saturday the 20th and they had already scheduled her surgery for the 24th. With my mother being the way, she was she was already scheduling her regular clients grooming appointments before she got discharged so she could “fit them in” before her surgery because she didn’t want them to wait. 

On February 24th, 2021 we drove to the hospital to get all checked in. She was nervous, she would never tell you that, but she was. However, once they took her back to get her all prepped for her surgery, I could hear her laughing and joking with everyone. I got to see her off as they wheeled her down the hallway to surgery. I drove home and waited for a phone call, as all of you waited for updates on Facebook. What seemed like an eternity I finally got the phone call, and It was great news! The doctor said it was fluid filled cyst-like mass, he drained it, and removed it. He had no concerns; we just have to wait for the pathology results to come back next week. They told us they thought around Monday we should have the results. Monday came and went, and we still had nothing. Mom called and they had no answers other than her results were “not disclosed”.

On March 10th, 2021 Mom went to get her staples removed. She got the results, and it was nothing anyone expected cancer. She told no one for a week. She needed to process everything. Cancer was not what anyone expected, let alone how severe this is.

Monday March 15th my brothers and I got each got a phone call. She told us that she has terminal cancer, Glioblastoma to be exact. The most aggressive form of brain cancer. Our lives will never be the same. As a mother she is not worried about herself but about her children Michael, Tyler (Shelby), me (Mariah), and Miles and grandchild Jacob, her family and friends. 

Now those of you who know Cheryl, she would never ask anyone for help. She is always doing the helping. She has her #ProjectGranny, that most of you know about, where she has collected donations and has put bird feeders at two sister nursing homes where my grandma previously stayed at in Center City, MN and where she is currently staying at in Rush City, MN. She has continued to do this throughout this entire time. She has continued to work, grooming dogs at the business she worked so hard building, as she loves to do. I know she would never ask for anything, so this is my opportunity to do it for her. 

We are going to be the percentage that lives longer than the time they are trying to give us. As a family 12-18 months is just not enough. Tuesday March 23rd, she has a consult appointment for her upcoming treatment.

Starting March 29th, she will be going Monday-Friday for chemo and radiation treatments for 6 weeks. All we are praying for is time...
After that she has a bucket list, as would anyone. I am hoping with this we can make her a little less worried about us and more focused on herself, her treatment, and her bucket list. 

I will keep updating this as we get more information because unfortunately there just is not much with this because most of those who get this form of cancer are older and it presents itself a little different, but we are hoping this will be in our favor.