Always ready for a fight, Always Smiling, Always hope.
Over a decade fighting, she underwent three surgeries, two radiation treatments, eight different chemotherapies, two official clinical trials, five "clinical trials of one" and was granted compassionate access to new immunotherapies before FDA approval. The week we went into hospital for the last time, she was preparing for a new round of radiation and immunotherapy.
Despite the pain, the fear and disappointment, she always wore that smile. Always brave. Always hope.
Always smiling, even when getting ready for proton radiation in 2012
Shaka "hang loose" for 2nd round of proton radiation in 2020
High spirits after hour 5 of harvesting white blood cells for experimental CAR-T Therapy
Chin up for her first dose of experimental mutation inhibitor in 2019
Keeping her smile in the ICU with her Doctors right after her second surgery
Showing off her battle scar from first surgery in 2011
Thumbs up right before third surgery
Good to go for infusion of experimental CAR-T therapy directly into her brain
In her fighting stance before an MRI