A MIGHTY WARRIOR HAS FALLEN HERE ON EARTH,
BUT I AM SURE SHE HAS BEEN GREETED IN HEAVEN!
I am Blogging this to share the news that Cheryl Broyles passed away
peacefully on December 3, 2023, at 4:30 PM surrounded by her friends and family.
When Cheryl Broyles was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a deadly brain tumor, her goal
was to outlive the disease’s 15-month prognosis long enough for the younger of her
two toddler sons to reach kindergarten.
She’s had multiple recurrences. UC San Francisco neurosurgeon Mitchel Berger has removed most of these using techniques like Gamma Knife surgery, which shoots intense, regionally precise doses of radiation at cancer cells.
Broyles’ survival has been the result of luck, tumor location, and cutting-edge treatment and diagnostics.
Read more at UCSF.edu
She survived and thrived for 23 years with a disease that the survival statistics said should have taken her in about 12-24 months. Those 23 years did not come easy, she never stopped fighting, and in the end it was the exhaustion of those hard won years that caught up to her. She never stopped fighting, and she never let the cancer win, not even once.
Cheryl grew up in Yuba City, California where she attended Sutter High School. She earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. It was at Humboldt that she and Matt met, and dated until they both had graduated with their wildlife degrees. She finished finals on a Thursday, drove to Yuba City to get married Friday, tied the knot on Saturday, and on Sunday they drove to Oregon where they had wildlife jobs. No honeymoon- field season waits for no one. After ten years of marriage and successful career building, and with two young boys, Cheryl was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme.
Her sons were 1 and 3 years old. Cheryl’s battle with cancer is reflected in this quote from her, “I’m not going to let the tumor kill my life while I’m still alive”; and that is exactly how she lived after diagnosis.
During her battle she stayed active in the brain tumor community, traveling to
participate in fundraising events and to talk to numerous audiences. She spoke with church congregations, pharmaceutical companies, and even testified in front of a FDA subcommittee to support the approval of the Optune Brain Cancer Therapy Device.
Most importantly though, she spoke with other survivors. For years she made and posted videos online to provide encouragement and support to brain cancer patients and their families, answering questions and inquiries with compassion and love for as long as she was able.
To this end, she kept a website (https://www.cherylbroyles-gbm.com/) where she would write about her journey, hoping to inspire others like her. Through this site, her book “Life’s Mountains”, and her activity on social media, she touched the lives of dozens- if not hundreds- of brain tumor patients and their families. Unfortunately, she was unable to continue these online efforts later in her journey, but she never stopped thinking of those she spoke with, and she never stopped moving forward, remaining as physically active and as active in the community as she could.
She would participate in charity walks, mini triathlons, and 5K runs, while still hiking
the Pacific Crest Trail with her family and summiting some notable peaks- Mt Shasta,
Mt. Whitney, Mt. McLoughlin, Mt. Dana, and Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.
Up until 3 years ago she was still backpacking, even venturing off trails into remote areas with her husband. Cheryl always had a love for nature and the outdoors. Prior to her diagnosis, she was a national award winning wildlife biologist working with Spotted owls and other wildlife. She loved spending time outdoors hiking, backpacking, river rafting, alpine and Nordic skiing, and spending time with her husband on their boat.
Cheryl was always very engaged, involved, and aggressive with her treatments-
opting to try new and alternative treatments along with aggressive traditional medicines. She participated in two stage 1 clinical trials- one even involved the infusion of cow hemoglobin. In her 23-year battle Cheryl had 6 craniotomies – 2 of which were “awake” surgeries where the surgeon interacts with the patient during surgery to determine areas of the brain that can and cannot be removed.
She also had 2 surgeries to her pituitary area through her nose and sinuses. Cheryl also underwent several bouts of Gamma Knife Radiation and several courses of more traditional radiation therapy. She also underwent chemotherapy with a variety of approved and experimental drugs. In addition to these treatments and therapies Cheryl was convinced that having a positive attitude was essential to her long term survival.
Her positive attitude was inspired and maintained through her faith in God. She was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and took the opportunity to share her faith whenever she felt it could be helpful and appropriate. She unabashedly discussed her faith in her book, talks, numerous newspaper interviews, and extensively in her online postings. Cheryl always had a servant’s heart and she donated time and resources to the local food bank and gospel mission, volunteered in schools, and even helped coach little league baseball. She took the time to mentor two middle school aged girls that were experiencing tough things in their personal lives. She was always a compassionate person whose goal was to inspire people with her journey, and to glorify God by showing love and compassion to others.
One of the reasons that she fought so hard against the tumors was so that she could spend time with her husband, two sons, and extended family. At the time of her diagnosis, her goal was to survive long enough to see the boys start elementary school. As time went on, her goal was to survive to the next milestone in the boys’ lives: start elementary school, start middle school, start high school, graduate highschool, graduate college, and get jobs. She also wanted to spend time with her husband, Matt, in his retirement. As the boys grew the family traveled extensively around the United States making several trips by car/RV to the east coast to see extended family.
One goal was to have the boys see every state in the US and that was accomplished before they graduated high school- Almost. One of them made it to all 50, one is still at 49. When she passed, both boys had grown into men. They had both completed college and found jobs in their chosen career fields, and her husband had been retired for 2 years. Cheryl was an amazing wife and mother whose love for her family fueled her in her battle with cancer. In the two years after Matt retired Cheryl and Matt enjoyed camping in their RV and boating while traveling around Oregon and California.
Throughout her battle Cheryl had many medical professionals assist her along the way. Most notably Dr. Nicholas Butowski, Dr. Mitchell Berger, Dr. Penny Sneed, Dr. Michael McDermott, and Dr. Sandeep Kunwar at UCSF. We would like to thank these incredible doctors and the whole UCSF medical staff for their continued care of Cheryl throughout her 23 year battle. We would also like to acknowledge and thank the palliative care staff
at Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
Additionally, we would like to thank the brain cancer community for their love and support of Cheryl and our family through the years. In particular the Inheritance of Hope Organization and family (https://inheritanceofhope.org/) along with Al Musella at the Virtual Trials (https://virtualtrials.org/musella.cfm).
Throughout her fight- and even at the end- Cheryl never gave up, and never gave in to the tumors. Those who knew her knew well that the concept of surrender simply was not in her. When presented with the last recurrence she chose an aggressive surgery with significant risk to her vision and the part of the brain that controls body chemistry and hormones, rather than letting the tumors taker her vision and then her life. The surgery was a success, removing approximately 90% of her tumor.
However, recovery did not go well, likely due to the extensive damage to her brain from previous surgeries and a stroke post surgery. As one of her son’s noted she fought her
last match against the tumor and won. She took her gloves off and left them in the ring, retiring an undefeated champ. Cheryl would want her journey to continue inspiring hope in others and to be a reminder for others to never give up.
One of Cheryl’s favorite concepts to remember and share with people was that survival statistics apply to populations NOT to individuals and that it’s important to keep fighting because you might be one of the few that beats the statistics significantly.
The following are two of her favorite scripture verses:
Joshua1:9 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid.
Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that testing produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.