Help support Elishaba’s fight against brain cancer

Update 3/4/24-

Hello, I am Eba’s friend Hannah and I wanted to give an update on her situation.

We spoke to the Neurosurgeon today and the pathology reports have confirmed that Eba has grade 4 Glioblastoma

This is a very aggressive form of brain cancer with a grim prognosis. The average survival rate after diagnosis is 12-18 months

That being said, the doctor is hopeful that Eba will have a good chance at fighting this off longer than the average patient because of a few factors.

1- She is young and otherwise healthy

2-The location of the tumor is more accessible than most seeing it is at the front of her brain and not buried in a super “vital” portion of the brain. It is in the left frontal lobe and at a good place for her to be a candidate for more surgeries if needed.

3. Although there is no cure for this type of cancer, they do plan to treat it as aggressively as possible with Chemotherapy and Radiation.

4. Because of the aggressive form of this cancer and high mortality rate, researchers are making amazing strides with new treatment possibilities. There are many clinical trials in the works, and the doctor said we can try to apply for as many as possible to try to give her more time and quality of life.

5. Eba is a fighter! As we all know, she has survived more than most ever will in their lifetime. If anyone has a fighting chance, it’s Eba! She also has so many people that love her and so many prayer warriors interceding on her behalf!❤️

Eba is heartbroken with this news, and so are those of us that love her, but we are also hopeful that God will keep her here with us as long as she is supposed to be here.

Eba and I were discussing this scripture earlier today, and it brought comfort to our hearts. Thank you for all the prayers and love during this time! ❤️

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.

Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:17-22

UPDATE 2/25/24-

Eba found out last week that she will need to go in to have urgent brain surgery to remove an invasive tumor on the left side of her brain on Thursday, February 29th.

We do not know yet if the tumor is cancerous or benign.

It is a very complex surgery and comes with many risks and potential side effects.

This will require an extensive recovery period and she will be unable to work for quite some time.

She was turned down for Medicaid insurance so she will be needing to come up with the co-pay and deductible for the family insurance plan she is on.

As you may know, Eba is in the middle of a divorce and has been learning how to do life as a single mom and sole income earner.

She has been working SO hard to make ends meet and is one of the most driven people I know.

After her hospitalization in January, She was able to purchase a used vehicle with the funds generously donated here.

It has been a big blessing to her, but it is apparent that person who sold it to her was not forthcoming about the major mechanical issues it has which has made it quite challenging to keep it safe and on the road.

Once she recovers, she will need something more reliable so she can hopefully continue to work, go to school and keep up with her children’s needs.

I am hoping that Eba’s loving friends will once again surround her and help ease some of the burden and worries as she goes in for the fight of her life.

We cannot express enough how grateful we are for so many of you that have supported her with prayers, kind words, encouragement and financial help during these trying times.

Eba is truly an inspiration, a survivor and a fighter. We believe she will come out of all this with another battle scar, a story to tell, and of course a message of HOPE for the rest of us!❤️

Hello, My name is Hannah and I am a close friend of Elishaba. On December 18th she was in a car accident where she was t-boned and her vehicle was totaled. She had already been feeling under the weather before this accident but continued to press on and had been working hard to make ends meet and try to give her children a good Christmas.

Her health continued to decline so she sought medical treatment where she was told that she had bronchitis and given medication to help.

The medication only made her feel worse but she tried her best to keep going.

On Thursday, 12/28 I happened to be in Anchorage for my daughter’s doctor appointment and planned to get together with Eba. She met us at our hotel and I could tell something wasn’t right with her. She seemed very panicked and short of breath, also very confused. She spent the night with us and I found it hard to carry on a conversation with her. She tossed and turned in her sleep and was coughing a lot. I was worried there was something serous going on with her. After we parted ways on Friday and I was at the airport to head back to Fairbanks, Eba called me and sounded even worse than before. I encouraged her to go to the hospital ASAP.

She was able to make it to the hospital and I met her there. It became apparent that she wasn’t doing well because her blood pressure was low and her heart rate was high…she also had a high fever. They ran a series of tests and found out that she has a serous case of pneumonia and she also had gone septic from the infection in her body.

They started running more tests and did a CT scan of her head and abdomen to make sure none of her symptoms were related to the car accident she was in a couple of weeks ago.

The scan on her head came back showing something concerning on the left side of her brain. They were able to get her in for an MRI with contrast late last night. The neurosurgeon came and spoke with us this morning and said that there is a 3cm tumor/mass in her brain and it could be one of 3 things-

1-A contusion/bruise from hitting her head in the car accident she was in. 2-A cancerous tumor 3- A benign tumor that is not life threatening, but would still need to be removed at some point.

He was encouraged that it is probably not a cancerous tumor because it did not light up with contact on the MRI, but it cannot be completely ruled out without a biopsy.

The plan is to wait another month or so to repeat the MRI and see if there are any changes. For now, she is admitted to the hospital for monitoring and a strong course of antibiotics to help her body fight the sepsis and pneumonia.

We are asking all of Eba’s friends and prayer warriors to be praying on her behalf that the tumor would shrink and that her body will be able to recover from this infection and trauma.

Eba is quite a survivor and very strong, but she has been through a lot lately and working so hard to provide for her children and keep going at all costs.

I am hoping that her friends can surround her with support during this low point in her life.

Before all this happened, she was burning the candle at both ends, and truly living in survival mode. She has been going to school to get her G.E.D, taking college classes, working as a caregiver for special needs individuals, and also driving for Uber any chance she could.

All while sharing 50/50 custody of her children and supporting them and their school schedules/daily life.

She will need to figure out medical expenses, loss of income, and also a reliable vehicle since hers was totaled in the accident.

Any amount donated will go directly to Eba to help her during this time. Thank you in advance for the prayers, love and support shown to her. Elishaba is an encouragement to so many people that are hurting and now is a wonderful time to give back to this amazing soul when she needs it most❤️‍