I’m a Brain Tumor survivor working with young patients and their families as they recover from Brain Surgery

What I do

New Fin generates revenue through generous sponsors, fundraisers, and merchandise to provide teenagers recovering from brain surgery with a gift to aid in the mental and spiritual aspects of their recovery, virtual peer mentoring, Consulting to families in relation to the American With Disabilities Act to promote academic success after brain surgeries, and to raise brain tumor awareness; A resource to for a healthy recovery!

My goal is to provide entertainment and educational items based on individual needs. For example, when I was recovering from my brain surgery, I would have loved a new fishing rod and equipment. Other teenagers may be interested in other forms of entertainment to help in their recovery process. Some may be interested in electronics, outing event tickets, musical instruments, etc... Keeping a high morale and a positive perspective is key to the healing process.

MY IMPACT

All proceeds from shirt sales are used to support teenagers recovering from brain surgery, and promote the longevity of New Fin.

my story… why i started New fin

JULY 1, 2014

     Competitive sports have always been a major part of my life. One morning at swim practice in the summer of 2014, I had an experience that would change my life forever. I was 14 years old at the time. I fainted.

     Prior to that swim practice, I had experienced episodes of extreme euphoria about twice a day for several months. I had later found out that those episodes were aura seizures. This particular morning the aura seizures were extremely intense. The last thing I remembered was standing in the swim team locker room. Everything went dark. I had fallen and hit my forehead on a concrete bench. As a result, I suffered an extremely severe concussion (pictured below). After being rushed to the hospital, I had a MRI where it was discovered I had a brain tumor in my front right temporal lobe.

      After the discovery of the tumor, the surgery was set for one week from that day. I was absolutely terrified of having surgery, mainly in that I might never be the same again…. READ MORE

ABOUT peer-MENTORING

Mentoring is to inspire, relate to, and increase morale in teenagers recovering from brain surgery. I would like to listen and share my experience to teens as a fellow survivor. My goal is to offer positive reinforcement and hope for the future through reliability, friendship and entertainment.