Savannah's Inspiration Story

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What I Wish People Knew About What It Is Like To Be a Young Adult With a Brain Tumor

Ependymoma survivor Savannah M. shares an honest account of what it is like to be a young adult navigating a brain tumor diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship in her Inspiration Story.

“After experiencing months of debilitating neurological symptoms — absence seizures, headaches, weight loss, sensory deficits, vision changes, fatigue, etc. I finally had an MRI that unearthed a discovery that would forever change my life.

It is not easy to live this way. It’s sort of strange — ever since my diagnosis, I have a new sense of appreciation for life. But I also have this anger and sadness inside of me that I’m trying to work through on a daily basis. Some days I want people to pay attention to me and ask me how I’m doing, and some days I want to pretend like my cancer does not exist.”

Read Savannah's Inspiration Story.

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New Giving Page!

Now you can make donations directly from the website to a unique webpage to ensure all gifts are restricted for the CERN Foundation, a program of the National Brain Tumor Society. Donations to the NBTS website no longer offer restrictions, so it is important to use this unique link to ensure your gift goes to the Ependymoma Fund.

Thanks to our generous community, we are able to support essential programs that help us to accomplish our mission: Committed to improving the care and outcome of people with ependymoma through community support and research efforts.

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Support the Ependymoma Fund for Research and Education

With your generous support, we will continue to expand our efforts to improve the care and outcome of people with ependymoma.

Make A Gift

The CERN Foundation and the National Brain Tumor Society have joined forces to help people with ependymoma and advance ependymoma research toward the development of new and better treatments through the creation of the Ependymoma Fund for Research and Education. Today, the CERN Foundation is officially a designated program of the National Brain Tumor Society. Donations to the Ependymoma Fund for Research and Education will be made on the NBTS website and used to support research efforts that will benefit both ependymoma patients and research through CERN. Emphasis will be placed on CERN’s historical model of supporting work that translates basic science into clinical practice. The Fund will also address overcoming barriers to clinical trial accrual and the development of new clinical studies for ependymoma patients. Additional funds will be used to support educational efforts through print, media, and awareness events. The new collaborative Ependymoma Fund will continue CERN’s practice and tradition of involving and collaborating with other scientists, medical providers, foundations and supporters of ependymoma research.

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