Please Support Kim Dean's 2 Year Battle Against Brain Cancer

In October 2022, Kim was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma, a relentless and unforgiving type of Brain Cancer. Please help us raise money for Kim's vital treatments.

Much of her story and updates can be found at GiveInKind. Kim is not only an extraordinary wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to many; when she was able, she actively supported other survivors through Team Survivor Northwest, and her story was featured at their fundraising event. Kim and Steve have been married for 35 years, with 5 amazing grown children (Dani, Sam, Alex, Shosh, and Ari) and 6 incredible grandchildren.

Throughout the 2.5 years since her diagnosis, Kim has endured 5 brain surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, clinical trials, experimental treatments, standard of care and integrative treatments, an intense Keto diet, rehabilitation, and continuous emotional and cognitive stress. Improving her quality of life and ability to regain some level of independence while she battles this disease is the goal of her entire extended team. Due to her treatments, Kim has lost part of her vision and mobility on the right side of her body and suffers from extreme Aphasia (Speech) as well as Edema (Brain Swelling) due to radiation scarring. Kim continues to fight every challenge she faces with the support of her family and friends.

Why a GoFundMe now? Since her major surgery with recovery and daily treatments, Steve takes care of Kim full-time. The kids take turns each week helping out, though they all have jobs and families of their own. We need your help to continue supporting and improving her quality of life, including helping with treatment expenses and additional in-home care to help minimize the huge stress of traveling to clinics multiple times a week. Her care team has exhausted traditional standard-of-care treatments and are managing integrative and experimental treatments to manage the cancer and all the side effects - none of which is covered by insurance and is shockingly expensive. We want her to have an opportunity to try every option available to her, but most of these are currently out of reach financially.

Insurance has paid for much of the traditional medicine, but out-of-pocket expenses have depleted much of the family's savings. Her expenses include travel every 1-2 months to Arizona to see her medical team, insurance copayments, integrative treatments that are not covered by insurance, rehabilitation treatment for her traumatic brain injury, and over 20 daily expensive supplements. These treatments and activities are expected to continue and grow as her traditional and integrative teams monitor her progress and bring on new therapies and treatments. We have set a short-term goal of $100,000 to cover all the care, therapies, and treatments through the summer, beyond that we will adjust our expectations. We would also be grateful for donations of Alaska or United miles or Marriott points to help mitigate the costs of Kim's regular travel for treatment.

On average, only 25% of Stage 4 Glioblastoma patients can expect to live 12 months after diagnosis. Kim is approaching 3 years - defying the odds - even with 2 recurrences. Our hope is that she thrives for many months and years to come.

With a lot of humility and gratitude, we appreciate any support you can give Kim to continue her journey towards NED and remission and an improved quality of life. She has fought tirelessly to beat Cancer, and with your help we can give her every opportunity and tool going forward. Thank you.

If you have questions or want to talk to Steve about other ways you can help, including Venmo or check donations, please reach out to him directly by sending a GoFundMe message.