My story began unexpectedly during my senior year of high school at 17 years old. My doctors wanted to do a routine MRI of my brain due to stomach issues I was experiencing and to my surprise, they found a mass on my brain. I have never experienced any symptoms related to the mass so I was in complete shock.

For the next year and a half, I went through regular MRIs, and each one showed that the tumor wasn’t growing. I started to believe it had probably been there my whole life and wasn’t something to worry about. But then out of nowhere, one scan showed it had grown. We did a biopsy just to be safe, and that’s when I got hit with the news: it was a type of brain cancer.

In February 2024, I began outpatient treatment. Even while navigating this new chapter, I was determined to keep moving forward. In spring 2025, I proudly graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with my bachelor’s degree in Social Work. When a later MRI showed the tumor was gone, I made the decision with my care team to pause treatment. But life had another twist — my next scan showed growth again, and so I’ve resumed treatment, all while pursuing my master’s in Social Work at UNI.

My journey has been full of ups and downs, victories and setbacks. Through it all, my incredible family and friends have been by my side — celebrating the good news and holding me close through the harder moments. I am forever grateful for their unwavering support. I’m also deeply thankful for my amazing care team at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, who have guided me every step of the way with compassion and expertise.

More than anything, this experience has taught me how strong I can be, how important it is to lean on others, and how much power there is in gratitude. I face each day surrounded by love and hope, excited to keep moving forward and make a difference in other people’s lives through my work in social work.