Sandra's Brave Loss to Glioblastoma

On June 7th, Sandra Labayen-Brown was getting ready for bed when, suddenly, she started to experience symptoms similar to that of a stroke. She immediately went to the emergency room, where staff discovered two large tumors in her brain. Following a biopsy on June 12th, Sandy was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Glioblastoma, and is now in the fight of her life. After losing her husband, Doug, in 2014, Sandy has been taking care of her dog Levi and working various jobs to make ends meet. After a period of intense stress, and with her savings depleted, Sandy started a position with State Farm. Things were finally starting to look up. She was only a week in when she went to the emergency room. Currently, Sandy is in rehab at Touro Hospital, working hard to compensate for a loss of mobility on her right side due to brain swelling from the tumors. She has a lot of fight in her, and is doing whatever she can to beat this and live a normal life. Sandy has always been very independent and active, and loves walking Levi around her Gentilly Woods home and taking care of her house. She also enjoys spending time with a close group of friends since childhood who are longtime members of Krewe of Dreux, and has worked with the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for over 30 years.  Sandy will need home and possibly even facility-based care, and will also need transportation to and from radiation and chemotherapy treatments that are likely to come. In addition to that, she will need help covering her basic life expenses (mortgage, insurance, etc.) while she undergoes treatment. Her family is helping as best as we can, but are reaching out to the support of her community of friends and loved ones for assistance at this time.