Help Katie Blunck Fight Brain Cancer

As many of you know, our friend, colleague, and fellow musician, Katie Blunck was diagnosed with a rare type of brain cancer in 2018. Unfortunately, she is still battling brain cancer and I know many of you have reached out asking how you can help. Please consider donating to Katie, if possible! See Katie's story and recent updates below:

Hi Everyone!

My name is Katie Blunck and battling an aggressive and rare form of brain cancer for the 3rd time since diagnosis in January 2018. I teach 4th & 5th grade orchestra at Discovery elementary in the Sioux Falls School District and this is my 13th year teaching in the district. I previously taught orchestra at Memorial Middle school, JFK elem., RF Pettigrew elem, All-City elem, and Oscar Howe elementary schools.

In November 2017, I suffered a seizure at home where then hospital scans found a mass in the right temporal lobe of my brain. After a craniotomy on January 10, 2018, the mass was diagnosed as Anaplastic Pleomorphic Xanthroastrocytoma stage 3 (PXA stage 3) putting it in the high-grade glioma category. After diagnosis, I underwent Pencil-beam Proton Radiation and chemo at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I had a good recovery with clear/stable MRI scans to follow until the cancer started to come back in Fall 2021.

In 2021, a suspicious area started to show again where the previous tumor was resected. After close observation for many months, it was determined that the best route of treatment was to have a 2nd tumor resection in November 2021. That surgery & recovery went well and I was able to return to school in January 2022. The MRI scans were clear until May 2022.

In May 2022, an MRI found the tumor had started to come back for a 3rd time, but it was too soon to perform another surgery. My Mayo oncologist and I decided that I would do Targeted (chemo) Therapy as positive results had taken place for other patients with that therapy and my type of cancer with it's genetic mutation of BRAFv600E. With any drug comes expected side effects and for me, the most troublesome was the full-body muscle pain that happened. I needed to take small breaks from the therapies (a few days off here at there) throughout the summer and Fall of that school year. The bad months of pain while on those therapies was all worth it!

After trying different high doses of the Targeted Therapy drugs in June and July 2022, the early August 2022 MRI showed a significant improvement in tumor size to almost nothing on the scan!! It was determined that a break from the therapies could take place to allow my muscles to heal as I started the school year and before I started the therapies again to tackle the tiny bit of tumor that was still visible on the scan.

After the break for most of Aug, Sept. and Oct. 2022, the early October 2022, the scan unfortunately showed that the tumor had mostly grown back plus a little more during the break and reinforced how aggressive this cancer was/is. I started back on 1/4 dose of the therapies right away from Oct. - December 2022. On December 27, 2022, a follow-up MRI showed the tumor was not as affected on this dose and it was no smaller than the August scan. It was determined surgery was the best step to remove this tumor going forward.

I had my 3rd tumor resection on January 10, 2023. The long 8-hour surgery was successful as the surgeon removed all the visible tumor that required a deeper & more aggressive resection than previous. 7 weeks after surgery on February 27, 2023, I went back for the first follow-up MRI and unfortunately, a small area of the resection showed to be suspicious yet again (either inflammation/scar tissue or regrowth of the tumor). I started 2 new Targeted Therapies on March 2, 2023 in case this suspicious area is the cancer coming back again and am on it now. I am anxious to get back for another MRI on April 6, 2023 to see what everything looks like.

      After this 3rd surgery, I also developed Photophobia which is severe sensitivity to light and Hyperacusis which is severe sensitivity to sound. I also have vision issues as the result of a common side effect from a steroid I was on that I hope will improve now that I am off of it. The Photophobia & Hyperacusis is so debilitating that I am unable to return to school. At this time, I do not know when I'll be able to get back to school this year and have run out of sick leave after late March. Colleagues have graciously donated as much time as they can that can get me through early April, I believe. With the potential loss of pay for part of April and all of May if I can not go back to work and the expenses I will continue to have, I foresee my paychecks being stretched thin.

I would be so appreciative if you could help with any of these medical expenses going forward. It only takes 1 cancer cell to get the tumor started again and my cancer is really aggressive as it proved to be last summer/this Fall. I will keep you updated on the progress as I work my way through this fight for the 3rd time. Perhaps the 3rd time is the charm?! THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING ABOUT MY CANCER JOURNEY! It sure has been a doosey this 3rd time around since cancer #2 in November 2021 and now cancer #3 in January 2023.