IOWA CITY, Iowa — Resilience is abundant in the personality of Gabby Ford, 17, of Fairfield, Iowa. With support from University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, she and her family have faced off for the past seven years against a relentless brain tumor.
When she was 10, Gabby was flown to the children’s hospital after a scan at her local hospital revealed a buildup of fluid and a mass in the middle of her brain.
She was diagnosed with hypothalamic pilocytic astrocytoma, a brain tumor that originates from star-shaped cells called astrocytes.
“That was the beginning of our journey,” Gabby’s mother, Mandy, recalls
Read Gabby’s story here.