Help Ryan Kowalk fight brain cancer

Rather than telling his story for him, here's Ryan's Facebook post from a few days ago when he decided to let friends know of his recent diagnosis. Our hearts are all heavy with this terrible news.

"I have some hard news to share - I’ve been diagnosed with brain cancer. We are still waiting on knowing the grade, but the tumor is large and in my left frontal lobe area.

The scariest part of brain cancer is that we haven’t found a good way to treat it, mainly because of lack of funding. If you google glioma you’ll notice that it is referred to as “uniformly fatal”. That being said I am going to fight it with all my heart.

Soon I will have an awake craniotomy to attempt to remove as much tumor as possible, while hopefully not affecting me too much(which is a significant risk). Depending on the grade and resection, I will then be doing chemo and potentially radiation.

I’m normally not the type to post on facebook, but I’m doing it now because I need any and all support I can get as I fight this. Prayers, thoughts, messages of hope, fond memories — anything.

To all of you, I’m grateful for the experiences that have made us friends. Even if we haven’t talked in a long time - I still cherish the times that we’ve had."

https://www.facebook.com/601018789/posts/10156703016208790

I think Ryan's brother Britton described Ryan best when he said "He is one of the kindest, most understanding, most giving humans there is. And the least deserving to be going through this at 30 years old, after a year away helping take care of his fiancee Chelsea's mother before her passing. He's an amazing person this world needs around a good time longer." Please join us in supporting and cheering Ryan and his family on as they go  through this difficult time.