07/24/2024
In preparation of a trip to Disneyland on the first weekend of March 2023, Lilian had gotten into a minor car accident where she accidentally had rear-ended a vehicle on her way home. While explaining the car accident to family, she was confused as to why she didn’t see the car. Concerned about her eyesight, she planned a visit to the optometrist to take place after her trip. The trip was continuing as planned, though as she navigated the Disney crowds with her family, Lilian struggled to locate the people she was standing next to and kept bumping into other guests. Worry and fatigue began to set in as her family discovered that she was not able to see out of her peripheral vision out of her left eye. The first red flag came on the last morning of their day in Disneyland when Lilian stated “,I am too tired to go to Disneyland today.” For someone like Lilian who really only lives in Kaysville to spend her time between trips to the Disney Parks, this was actually taken very seriously.
Once she returned home, Lilian then went to visit her Optometrist in Kaysville who, after running an eye exam, delivered worrisome news. That nothing was wrong with her eyes, but that she should see a Neurologist as soon as possible. Lilian’s condition worsened quickly over the course of the following two weeks as she became visibly weaker, unable to walk straight, and was very dizzy. It became apparent that she could no longer wait to visit the Neurologist and a trip was made to the Lakeview Hospital Emergency Room. After multiple tests including a CT Scan and an MRI, Lilian and her family were given heartbreaking news. That there was a lemon-sized tumor in Lilian’s brain, in the right hemisphere, with attributes of Glioblastoma Multiforme. A stage IV brain cancer.
The next weekend, Lilian underwent an operation at the University of Utah Hospital that saw the successful removal of the entire malignant tumor. A biopsy would then confirm the GBM diagnosis. While recovering from brain surgery, Lilian underwent a month of physical therapy recovery in preparation to receive radiation treatments and chemotherapy to begin in May. After her first week of these daily radiation sessions, she left the hospital with her family and went directly to Disneyland. Which she clearly did often because, once she had finished her 6 weeks of daily radiation sessions, she celebrated by, once again going to Disneyland and, her favorite place on Earth, San Clemente, California.
In late July she was equipped with a cancer treatment known as Optune. A device that she could wear daily and have it not interfere with her day-to-day life, while it constantly fights off cancerous cells for her. This device, and chemo treatments, proved successful through a miraculous first year of this diagnosis with very little to no change in her many MRI readings since having the tumor removed.
Her most recent MRIs have shown to be less optimistic as the cancer has now appeared in the left side of her brain. The effects of both having this cancer as well as serious brain surgery continue to affect her life. Her memory has been deeply affected both long-term and short-term. She moves very slowly and can’t go long distances unassisted or without a wheelchair. Her eyesight has never fully returned. She has around the clock care from her loving husband, children, and grand-children. These conditions worsen as time passes and will continue to do so.
But it has not stopped her from attending nearly every Utah Utes home football game. Nor had it stopped her from going to Disneyland, and Disney World. Since her diagnosis, she has fulfilled a decades long dream of relaxing on Disney’s private island with her husband Cory, while vacationing on a Disney Cruise Ship. Even greater, she continues to live her lifelong dream as a grandmother of, now six grandkids, as she witnessed a miraculous birth of her new grandson, who was born just a few weeks ago with another grandson on his way later this year.
We celebrate the fight. We celebrate the success. We celebrate the miracles that have paved the road of life for Lilian since that Lakeview emergency room to this day. We celebrate her life, as she miraculously continues through this fight.
Please join us in celebrating Lilian’s success in her fight on August 9th.
