Rachael Elwork Wells

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An update from Rachael on Thursday, January 21st:

"Good morning my people. This seems like as good a time as any to let you know the first news that the brilliant doctors discovered about my tumor on Tuesday and surgery. Unfortunately it is indeed glioblastoma brain cancer or GBM, which is what my dad had. Fortunately though I am over 20 years younger than he was when he got this diagnosis and super importantly I am also a woman. As it turns out women tend to do much better with GBM. And so I am prepared to muster the spirit of the great Ruth Bader Ginsburg and fall in line to also fight this one out to the end like a girl. I honestly felt it was poetic justice to hear this call that I would need to fight like a girl just as a new dawn was coming in the White House.My recovery from surgery is coming along really well. Your prayers and good vibes have been immeasurably powerful. I should be able to go home tomorrow morning. We will be awaiting many amazing genetic test results that will help us determine the treatment plan for me ahead. We are in the best possible position – I feel truly blessed in all the ways. We will be able to get second third and fourth opinions from all the top doctors across the world working on glioblastoma. We learned so much from my dad’s experience, and so I beg of you do not be depressed by this news. I truly am not. We are taking things day by day and continuing to keep making the next best decisions. The statistics on glioblastoma really aren’t useful for determining what is going to happen to a 42 year old woman, and so I’m not looking at them. You shouldn’t either. When my sister and I were kids my dad often said to us half jokingly in front of my mom “Rachael, Rebecca, There are only two people in this universe that I would sacrifice my life for in half an instant. Those two people are you. Your mother is a 50-50 LOL. But you I sacrifice my life for you in half an instant. As I lie in my hospital bed now I keep hearing his voice full of joy at unequivocally declaring that to his beloved daughters. I do believe that my dad sacrificed his life so that I will be able to live."