TEAM HOLLY GRACE
TEAM HOLLY GRACE
Team Holly Grace is back for our third Race For Hope D.C. and will be heading down from New Jersey for this amazing event on May 6, 2018!!!!! Our team has raised in less than two years just about $81,000!!!
Holly continues to fight and kick butt against her brain cancer (Anaplastic Astrocytoma (Grade 3 Glioma)). Holly completed her maintenance Chemo (Temodar) one week a month in July of 2017. Holly followed this by participating in an 8 week clinical trial out Wake Forest and Johns Hopkins known as the GLAD study. This was a diet based study and we traveled down to Hopkins every other Monday. The years 2016 and 2017 brought many ups and downs and new challenges never experienced before. The love and support we have received from friends, family and the brain tumor community has been absolutely amazing. We really are forever grateful to all. We know the aggressive nature of brain tumors and the uncertainty that lies ahead and we again seek to raise money to fund research for brain tumors and brain cancer. We hope to again finish in the top 10 teams and to have one of the largest teams participating in the walk. Please join us in D.C. on May 6th to support Holly or sign up as a virtual walker if you cannot make it. A donation of any amount is also so greatly appreciated. Thank you. Holly's story is below.
On January 29, 2016, our lives began a new path. As a police officer I was getting up from a nap before having to work the night shift and I found Holly sitting on the bathroom floor with her head in her knees. Holly told me she was unbearably dizzy and was unable to text message. Then as she began to speak she started to have trouble finding the words she wanted to say. I chalked it up as a migraine but her mother was concerned and took Holly to the Emergency Room. Upon arrival a CT scan showed a mass on Holly's brain.
After some research we ended up at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia and shortly after an awake resection was performed by Dr. James Evans (which Holly tells me she has PTSD from). The resection was considered successful and we awaited the pathology report. The subsequent pathology report came back and Holly's tumor was daignosed as Anaplastic Astrocytoma (Grade 3 Brain Cancer). Soon after, Holly underwent radiation and concurrent Chemo (Temodar pill) for six and a half weeks at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Holly's Radiation ended on May 5th four days after the Race for Hope D.C. 2016. As a way to celebrate the end of Radiation our family walked for HOPE that brain cancer will be cured. We then alked again in October 2016 in the Race for Hope Philadelphia!!! Holly is now 32 years old with three beautiful kids; Zoey eleven years old, Juliet three and Matthew Jr. two. We don't know what the future holds for Holly but we know how important brain tumor and brain cancer research is and how badly we all want Holly to live a long and happy life without brain cancer. My kids and I need Holly here with us and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for any support whether monetary or as a teammate.
The Race for Hope DC raises funds to support innovative research initiatives and provide information for brain tumor patients and their families. This amazing event relies on the dedication and enthusiasm of individuals, families, teams, volunteers, sponsors and donors. Thank you for your support in helping us find a cure for brain tumors!
Matt, Holly, Zoey, Juliet and Matt Jr.
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