Our story is much like the others that will be participating in the Have a Chance Walk on September 28, 2008.  It is a story of a family that was torn apart by a devestating disease called Gliablastoma Multiforme IV.   My name is Jeannie Zoller and my husband was David John Zoller.  We have an amazing soon to be 10 year old daughter Sophia.  My husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor on Saturday, September 24, 2005.  He died 22 months to the day on Tuesday, July 24, 2007.  He was just 36 at the time of his diagnosis and only 38 when the battle ended.  I often say he won the battle...we lost.   David's battle with GBM began with headaches.  Headaches that brought a 6'2" man to his knees on numerous occasions.  After many trips to the Dr. we were finally able to persuade him to go the the hospital for some tests.  A CAT Scan revealed a tumor in the size of a lemon in his front right temporal lobe.  The tumor was so big he was put in ICU and confined to a bed, until they could shrink the swelling enough to operate.  We had an amazing surgeon.  He became more than just a Dr.  He became an advisor, and more than that a comforting friend.  He happen to like David.  We trusted him with every decision that had to be made, we trusted him with my husband's life.  He helped prolong the inevitable and gave us a chance to have time to live life to the fullest.  I am eternally grateful t o Dr. Raphael Davis and his team for this.

David's battle was long.  Brain cancer though  not physically painful is extremely exhausting.  After the re-coop from the surgery, we got in the car and started to travel.  We went o Niagara falls to see the leaves change.  We took our daughter to Disney to see Mickey, and best of all we traveled to Italy and France.  My husband was an artist, and this was a trip of a life time.  We had always said, some day we would go.  Well some day came and we did it.  We had a wonderful time.  The trip by the end was somewhat tough for him, but he never complained.  He never complained period.  

Our lives were changed dramatically.  He couldn't drive anymore, he was a high risk for seizures, yet he kept working.  He was an art teacher at the Commack Middle School on Long Island.  He was according to his students, " a very cool teacher".  He ran and directed the stage crew for musical productions.  This became our job together.  We did everything together.  We became inseperable from the time of his diagnosis to the time of his death.    The first few months were hard.  Faced with the news you think oh my God this isn't happening.  Then you move into survival mode.  What can I do?  Where can we go?  Who can help us?  Then when all the options were exhausted and the end it near, you think there is nothing else I can do.  We have no regrets.  We lived our lives the best we could.  We did everything that was humanly possible.  I could say now that David lived his life the best he could.  He wouldn't have changed a thing.  He never once said, " I wish I would have....  or If I had more time I would..."  He lived his life to the fullest.  He made it very easy for all of us.  He is greatly missed.  A day does not go by without me hearing his voice in something or picturing him making a face about something I did or said.  We only were married 11 years, but to me it was a life time, because that is all we had.  I will forever treasure the gift he gave me, our daughter Sophie.  Through her he lives.  I can see him everyday just by talking with her.  She is her father's daughter.  I can only hope that someday she will see a cure for this horrible disease that robbed her of her daddy.  She treasures the memories she has of him.  

You can read our story in full at our caring bridge site:  www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidzoller and also our webpage on the have a chance fundraiser.  Our team name is  OBEY ZOLLER