Three C Words + One

I was incredibly honored to deliver the survivor speech and lead the warm up for the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) Breakthrough for Brain Tumors 5k (BT5K) Run and Walk at Lake Merced in San Francisco today. If you weren't able to join us in person, my speech is below!

Good morning! I hope that you are all well, and I’d first just like to say thank you so much for coming to today’s event. I’d also like to thank Wendy Santana for inviting me to speak today. It is such an honor!

We all came here today because we’ve been touched in some way, and I guess for most of us, in profound ways, by a brain tumor. We’re patients, survivors, or individuals supporting a loved one. Whether you’re a parent, a child, a partner, a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend, colleague, healthcare professional - however brain tumors have affected you - thank you so much for coming and supporting us all today.

I was first diagnosed with anaplastic oligodendroglioma in April 2021, at the height of the COVID 19 pandemic. I had never before heard the word ‘oligodendroglioma’ and, like my family members, couldn’t even wrap my head around how to pronounce it or all of the other new vocabulary that rapidly came our way. Have I learned a lot since! In the past two and a half years, I credit first and foremost my community of family and friends, my yoga practice, and the support of organizations such as the ABTA in providing me the hope, courage, resilience and strength to ride through the experience of living with malignant brain cancer.

And while many of us here have cancer or are affected profoundly by it, that’s not the main word I want to emphasize today. I want to emphasize three other C words.

The first word is community. As a brain tumor and cancer survivor, I’d like to underscore the power of community. Particularly given how isolated so many of us were during COVID, community is so important to our well-being. Whether it’s connecting in person, by text, by ZOOM, by phone…staying connected is what nurtures our well-being.

And while for some of us, the medical cure to our cancer is not here yet, the cure for us right now is in the power of community. It’s our communities that provide us encouragement, nurture our sense of wellness, and our sense of living purposefully here and now. Our communities - each of you here - are what help us keep our hope alive.

The next word I’d like to discuss briefly is care. There’s so much to say about it. I’m so grateful for the care of the healthcare professionals, the many, many healthcare professionals, who have quite literally kept me and many of us here alive. It’s our surgeons, our neuro-oncologists, our nurses, our technicians, our various therapists… it’s the ecosystem of individuals in the healthcare system. It’s the individuals who greet us when we check in for appointments. It’s the wraparound supports that our hospitals provide, as well as the care we receive from our friends and family, like you here today, that is what is so vital to allowing one living with a brain tumor to live with dignity, and for those of us who are lucky, to go from being patients to survivors who can live full, albeit perhaps slightly different lives.

The next c word I’ll emphasize is commitment. We’re here today because we’re committed to the work that ABTA does - I have been so inspired by how many people have rallied and provided support to further the cause for research and advocacy that benefits those of us today living with brain tumors. It not only benefits us, but it benefits the next generation as well.

I said I’d mention three c words, but there’s a fourth. My fervent hope is that in the near future we do see improved treatments, less side effects, and ultimately a cure for individuals affected by all types of brain tumors. And I know that our partners in the health field are working so hard to this end. The ABTA is committed to finding a cure for brain tumors, and by being here today, I know each of you shares that commitment. Every effort we take helps to change lives. So there we have it - community, care, commitment, and the goal of a cure are what bring me here today, and what unites me to each of you. Thank you.