Help Lea'Anna Battle Aggressive Brain Tumor

It is extremely difficult to say what I am about to say. But we need your help!! For those of you who know Lea'Anna Darling, love her for the person she is. She is smart , funny, kind and, the most amazing person you could meet. When she walks into a room, the whole place lights up! She loves everyone, people directly in her life, extended family and friends as well as the people within work. She always puts herself last. Well, now we need to put her first. This has been a really rough road for her so far and it is just beginning. We are asking for donations to help with her costs, which will be enormous.

Costs include, Brain surgery, tests, inpatient stay, radiation, chemo, lost wages, physical therapy, cognitive therapy, and a wig when she loses her hair... Any amount helps. If you think it is too small, it's not. The fact that you want to give is everything, and means so much.

Here's her story.

In November of 2023, Lea’Anna had been having really substantial migraines for months. She had originally gone in and the doctors told her it's probably stress.

She started to see a neurologist when the migraines continued. She asked him if it could be something serious. He replied in his career he's never seen migraines be signs of something life-threatening; an MRI is really expensive, but he can order one if she really wanted to. So she trusted the neurologist.

But nothing helped. The migraines became more severe and more frequent. She knew something was wrong.

One day it got to be too much and she decided to just go into the ER. This time she asked for a CT scan, which is where they found she had a brain tumor in her frontal lobe on the left side of her brain.

Frustrated with the care at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health she went to UW Medical hospital and they immediately scheduled her for brain surgery that Friday.

The surgeons aimed to remove the entire tumor. However, when they went to remove the tumor that was deep inside, her face started to droop and due to risks to the patient's cognitive well-being, they were unable to remove the entire tumor. At this time, there’s still a tumor inside the left side of her brain.

Her formal diagnosis is an astrocytoma, IDH-mutant, CNS WHO grade 3. Which means it is aggressive. She is still awaiting how this diagnosis will lead to other challenges. She has had memory loss, word confusion, and seizures since her surgery.

The next step is to start radiation at Fred Hutch in Seattle. She will do 6 weeks of radiation every day, Monday-Friday. She will get a month of recovery time before starting chemotherapy for up to a year.

The hope is that this course of treatment will shrink the tumor enough to make the surgery a success. However, the cognitive consequences of this treatment are great. The side effects are extremely hard for her.

She has temporarily had to leave a career that she loves. She has a master's degree and has spent her life as an Independent Social Worker Supervisor, helping youth and families with trauma and mental health. And at this time, it is not definitive that she will be able to return.

SHE NEEDS OUR HELP NOW!

If you have it, please share. She has been through so much. She has fought through hard things before and she is ready for battle again.

But let's help her win this one!!!