Wow, how do I even begin with a story of how amazing my mom, Michele Towne, is. My mom is definitely one of my best friends and I am so thankful for everything she has done for me, my family, and my friends. She retired over 5 years ago with plans to travel and relax. In the past several years, her role as a mom and grandma has changed a bit. My nephew, Joshua, was diagnosed with an Ependymoma over 16 years ago. He has had 8 craniotomies plus so many rounds of chemo and radiation through all of that. My mom has not missed being there for him with every surgery and every treatment. Joshua is now wheelchair-bound and needs a lot of help at home. My mom spends at least 3-4 days a week with him, sometimes just to sit next to him and watch movies, sometimes to go to the movies (both of their favorite thing to do), a lot of times to get him out of bed to get him to PT and OT to help him keep moving. They have the best grandma/grandson relationship and they are so lucky to have each other. As if having a grandson diagnosed with brain cancer isn’t enough, I was also diagnosed with brain cancer in 2015. I was in San Diego on a travel nurse assignment, but my mom lives in Michigan. If you can’t already guess, she flew out immediately when finding out the news. She stayed at my side and helped with whatever I needed. After having surgery and recovering, I decided to move back to Texas, but my mom had to be in Michigan. She would, and still does travel to Austin religiously to be by my side. My tumor came back in 2018 and since then, my mom has traveled to Austin to be with me for almost all of my MRIs and appointments with Texas Oncology. She also does a lot of research to keep up to date with options of treatments for this horrible disease. She really is an angel from God for our family. As I mentioned, in between her visits to Austin to be with me, Baxter (my dog), and my friends, she spends her time with Josh, making or buying him food, bathing him, getting him in and out of bed, and going with him to appts. My mom just turned 69 years old and lifts her 20-year-old grandson in and out of bed, in and out of the car, and even up and down the stairs this past November when she brought Josh down to Austin to visit me. She is more than a legacy of love, but this is an amazing way to recognize her. My mom has also joined my team for Head for the Cure every year for the last 5 years and I am so happy she will be here again. Thank you for allowing me to honor such an amazing woman.