Maria Kuenster

Maria Kuenster

Maria is a 23-year old woman from Minnesota, who is facing DIPG as an adult. She is a vibrant woman, filled with life and mirth, someone who truly enjoys even the smallest details of life. Maria began to experience headaches in 2017 and went in for an MRI, but all the test results came back […]

Elyse Johnson

Elyse Johnson

Elyse Johnson is a sweet, loving little girl who was brought into the world as a happy, healthy baby. She loves baby animals, watching the Wiggles or Frozen, swimming, and her favorite color is purple! However, on April 9th, 2016 her family’s lives changed entirely when she was diagnosed with DIPG. Elyse’s DIPG Journey Several […]

Emiliano Bermejo

Emiliano Bermejo

Meet Emiliano Emiliano is a sweet 3-year-old boy whose family started noticing he was having trouble walking back in March 2020. After weeks of meeting with several specialists, there was no doubt that Emiliano had DIPG. By May, only a week after being diagnosed, Josue and Andrea’s baby boy began receiving chemotherapy once a week […]

Lisha Ayala

Lisha Ayala

Meet Lisha Ayala Lisha was diagnosed with DIPG at the age of 7 years old. In 2013, Lisha’s teachers brought to her mother’s attention that her right hand was losing mobility and she was constantly sleeping in school. Her mother, Star, had no idea what was happening, so she brought Lisha to the hospital where […]

A Brief History of Oncology: DIPG vs Cancer

A Brief History of Oncology: DIPG vs Cancer

The earliest recorded form of cancer was breast cancer. According to historians studying the Edwin Smith Papyrus, a copy of an ancient Egyptian textbook on trauma surgery, there were eight mentions of breast cancer that were listed as being removed through an application of the “fire drill”. In the profile of the disease, the authors […]

DIPG and Vaccination

DIPG and Vaccination

The COVID-19 vaccine is here! In December, the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the FDA.  Pfizer and Moderna were the first two-dose vaccines to be approved and have been rolled out to every state in the US. These two vaccines are made with mRNA which means that they need to be refrigerated at extremely […]

April 2021 Newsletter – Happy Spring from CRF!

April 2021 Newsletter – Happy Spring from CRF!

April is here and with it comes Spring! After a long Winter, and more time than ever spent indoors due to the pandemic, we cannot wait to welcome the sunshine and get outside. As the signs of Spring begin to develop around us, our foundation’s work also continues to evolve with the changes in our […]