“Claire”

The Leigh Sakoda Foundation celebrated Thanksgiving by making a very important grant to a 25 year old woman diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a very rare and inoperable brain tumor. She was in college and had a part-time job prior to her diagnosis, but had to drop out of school and move in with her mother and sister for treatment. The patient’s mother has had to decrease her work schedule to help with the difficult treatment regimen for this disease, including traveling to multiple states. In addition to taking care of her daughter, the patient’s mother alone pays for all travel, health, and living expenses as a single mother of two.