The Roon 5 Highlights some of the inspirational creators on Roon. This week, hear from GBM Caregiver, Amber Jackson. You can watch all of her Roon answers here
When did you first learn about GBM?
I first learned about GBM when my husband was diagnosed with GBM. It sounded strangely familiar and as a nurse I’m sure I’d read about it somewhere in nursing school. But I did not work primarily with cancer patients so I never retained the information. Everything important I knew about GBM I researched after my husband was diagnosed.
What inspired you to tell your story publicly?
My husband and I always tried to live our lives in a happy way. We were (and I still am) always finding the joy in each day and making sure we were creating memories for our children. I found that after my husband was diagnosed, more and more people were drawn to our way of thinking, so I decided to share our cancer journey publicly.
Tell us about an inspirational moment on your journey with GBM?
For my husband’s birthday I planned a surprise trip to Banff, Canada. It had always been on his bucket list so I wanted to take him. His tumor was stable so I booked the trip as a surprise. A few weeks before we were set to leave he had some symptoms and ended up needing further surgery for tumor removal. It was 16 days before we were supposed to leave so I asked his neurosurgeon if I needed to cancel the trip. The surgeon’s nurse practitioner replied with “What are we fighting for if he doesn’t get to live? Go on the trip”. That was a shifting moment for us. From then on we didn’t just fight for him not to die, we fought for him to LIVE.
What’s your best piece of advice for someone on the GBM journey?
My best piece of advice is to focus on each day. Focus on the love and friendship and joy that can be found, TODAY.
What do you love about Roon?
I love that Roon has so many voices on the app, from so many backgrounds. I can find medical information from physicians, advice from fellow caregivers and other information from professionals who are working in the field. Google can be so unpredictable, but these are people who have hands on experience with GBM on Roon.
