Jesse’s Brain Tumor Diagnosis

On March 9, 2024 Jesse was in Las Vegas, ready to catch a flight home the next morning after a business trip, when he got a terrible headache. He went to the local ER where it was discovered that he has a large brain tumor. After multiple CT scans and an MRI his neurosurgical team recommended he be transferred to UCLA Medical Center for surgery due to the delicate nature of his type of tumor.

Jesse spent 12 days at the hospital in Las Vegas before he was transferred to UCLA Medical Center via a 6 hour ambulance ride.  On March 26th, the day after his 38th birthday, Jesse underwent an awake craniotomy. This means that he was “awake” for a portion of his open brain surgery so that his surgeon could verify the removal of tumor tissue only and not functioning brain tissue. Because of the tumor being hardened around Jesse’s blood vessels that separate the lobes of his brain and because the tumor turned out to be very vascular, his world renowned surgeon Dr. Liau was not able to remove as much as she had hoped to. 

After about a day and a half into recovery, Jesse’s amazing care team at UCLA identified that Jesse had too much swelling and excessive bleeding in his brain so Jesse was quickly returned to the OR for emergency surgery. The surgeon explained that with Jesse’s type of tumor, tissue can die off after surgery and because the tumor is so vascular it can cause uncontrolled bleeding. The surgeon removed blood clots, dead tumor tissue, and stabilized the bleeding. This was not an “awake” surgery like the first since it was an emergency but the surgeon did use the MRI mapping to help guide him.  We were told later that the tumor tissue that was originally hardened around Jesse’s blood vessels was the tissue that had died off and was removed in the second surgery! So with the second surgery Jesse had almost a complete removal of his tumor! 

After about a week in ICU and hospital care, Jesse was transferred to a wonderful rehab in the Los Angeles area where he was able to rest and work hard in physical, occupational, and speech therapy every day! 

Jesse is currently undergoing 6 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy from the Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach CA. We have rented a home in the Huntington Beach area for Jesse and his caregivers to live during this time. We had really hoped for Jesse to receive this portion of his recovery treatment at home in Utah, but for complicated reasons he has to remain in the SoCal area. So for now Jesse is resting, continuing his speech therapy, and attending his many doctor appointments. Thankfully Jesse has not suffered too many side effect from his radiation and chemotherapy, he has had very little nausea and fatigue! 

We hope to bring him home finally sometime the beginning of June! Where he will continue his chemotherapy at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

His wife Rachel bounces back between Jesse in Newport Beach and their 2 small boys at the family’s home in central Utah. 

Jesse is a loving husband and father to two small boys, age 9 and 2. He is also the sole breadwinner of the family.

Donations will help in covering: extensive unknown medical bills including surgery, transportation, therapy, and possible cancer treatment. Travel and accommodations for Rachel, while she supports him in recovery in California and bounces back to Utah to be with their 2 boys. Child care and living costs for Jesse’s 2 boys while Rachel is away in Utah. Helping the family to make ends meet since long term disability will only cover a portion of the family’s budget.

Any support you can offer is immensely appreciated and will significantly impact Jesse and his family as they try to navigate these sudden and extreme circumstances.