SEATTLE — Brain cancer survivors were treated to free family photo shoots Thursday at Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park. It’s part of the push ahead of the Seattle Brain Cancer Walk on May 5, which aims to raise $500,000 for clinical trials at the Ivy Center at Swedish Hospital in Seattle.
Doctors there say they’re on the cusp of a breakthrough 15 years in the making that will allow new targeted therapies and vaccines.
The Ledgetts got their family photos at the shoot. They are celebrating the family's mother, Monica, who is now a 10-year brain cancer survivor.
“She is a fighter and she's been fighting for 10 years nonstop,” her husband Joe said.
Joe Ledgett was fighting for our country in Iraq when Monica got her diagnosis.
Scroll down to continue reading
More news from KIRO 7
“That was a tough phone call,” he said.
After she made it through multiple surgeries at the Ivy Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment, the Ledgett family is now providing hope and inspiration for other families. Monica is looking forward to sharing that hope with other patients at the Seattle Brain Cancer Walk which is now in its 12th year.
Information on the walk here.
“They'll be able to have better outcomes,” Monica said. “And I know that because the Ivy Center at Swedish is making great advances.”
This year, roughly 24,000 adults in the U.S. will be diagnosed with brain cancer.
Doctors at the Ivy Center say they are close to showing the world that a common virus called cytomegalovirus fuels the highly aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma. And they say that will open the door to new targeted therapies and vaccines.
Nine-year-old Ali Ledgett can attest to how important her mom’s treatment at the Ivy Center has been.
“She does a lot to help the family,” Ali said. “And I love her a lot.”