When friends or acquaintances learn of her mother's brain cancer, Margot Johnson braces for one of two responses. "It's either, 'I knew someone who had cancer, and now they're training for a marathon.' Or it's, 'I knew someone with cancer, and they died.'"
这两种回答都没有帮助, 约翰逊说, a 24-year-old master's degree student in library science and part-time library assistant. 但她试着原谅. She knows her peers seldom have experience with a parent facing a life-threatening illness.
Johnson's mom is Sara Maurer, a civil litigation attorney in California. She had worked with victims of sexual assault and, 直到她的诊断, volunteered for a nonprofit that brings legal professionals together with high school students to hold mock trials, creating a platform for teens to polish their presentation skills and prepare to be community leaders.
"My mom is that person everyone clusters around. 她热情、活泼、顽强. She has an innate ability to connect with people," Johnson says.
The day Maurer learned she had cancer started like any other. She was at her Marin County home with her husband and Johnson, the couple's only child. She was loading dishes into the washer when she felt an intense tingling on her left side. Afraid it was a stroke, she asked Johnson to call 911. Maurer was taken to MarinHealth Medical Center, an affiliate of 加州大学旧金山分校健康. 在那里, 核磁共振显示为胶质母细胞瘤, the most common and deadly brain tumor in adults, 平均存活时间为15个月.
“我让他们把它拿出来, 这样我就能继续我的余生了,毛雷尔说。, a statement that is entirely in keeping with her pragmatic personality, 据她女儿说.
Maurer was transferred to the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights, ranked No. 2 nationwide for neurology and neurosurgery by U.S. 新闻 & 十大赌博平台排行榜报道. She underwent partial removal of her tumor by neurosurgeon Dr. 肖恩Hervey-Jumper, followed by radiation and chemotherapy to reduce the remaining tumor and slow its regrowth.
