Jolene Eddy’s world was turned upside down when her husband and father of her three young children, Spencer, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
‘When we found out Spencer had a brain tumor, we were scared,’ he recalled. He had suffered from ‘dizziness’ for years, but doctors dismissed the 39-year-old’s symptoms as just vertigo.
But the reality is much worse. He was later diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumor that usually occurs in children, and is very rare in adults.
What Jolene, 38, didn’t see was her own cancer diagnosis, just months after her husband received his own.
Their ordeal began in April 2024, when Spencer started ‘walking like he was drunk’ after getting off the plane, so the couple went to an ear, nose and throat doctor in a neighboring town, who performed an MRI, and discovered a tumor the size of a lime.
“We have requested an MRI [in the past] but we were told that the chances of it being a brain tumor were so low that it didn’t make sense,” said Jolene, a stay-at-home mom, from Williston, North Dakota.
Spencer was then referred to the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, in October 2025, so Jolene drove him 11 hours to the hospital, where she was told he had medulloblastoma.
“They said the cancer was blocking fluid from flowing from the blood vessels to the spinal cord,” explains Jolene. ‘They don’t know how he can still walk and talk, and how he hasn’t had a stroke.’
Spencer had to wait eight days in the clinic, as the brain surgeon was on family holiday, before he underwent a 10-hour operation to remove the tumour.
Before the operation, the couple were told there were significant risks, but fortunately the procedure went well, and doctors removed 85% of the tumor.
“After surgery, we didn’t know if he would be able to walk or talk again, or if he was brain dead,” added Jolene.
‘After surgery, Spencer underwent speech and physical therapy, to teach him how to walk and talk again, while he underwent 30 rounds of radiation to treat the remaining 15% of his tumor.’
But as Spencer began to recover, the mother of three realized there was something worrying about her own health.
“When we were at the hospital, I noticed a small, pea-sized lump under my armpit, but I forgot about it, because of everything that happened with Spencer,” says Jolene.
After two weeks of impatient rehab, the couple moved into a nearby Airbnb, and their three children came to live with them. Jolene homeschooled her kids, while Spencer went to radiation appointments, and in January 2025, the family was finally able to return home to North Dakota.
That’s when Jolene went to the doctor and told him that the lump was probably just a cyst. ‘I kept asking him to have it removed, and when I went back for tests, I found out it was breast cancer,’ she recalled.
‘I was completely blown away. We are devastated and afraid of what will happen to our children. If one parent dies, you have another parent you can rely on, but if both die, you have no one left.’
Following her diagnosis, Jolene was put on hormone-blocking medication, and underwent a double mastectomy in April 2025, while Spencer is still undergoing chemotherapy.
She chose not to have breast implants, as she did not want to undergo more than one surgery, while also caring for Spencer, but after the surgery she continued to faint and get sick, so her worried sister took her back to the hospital.
Jolene eventually had to undergo a blood transfusion because her body began to shut down after the operation.
“I had to get two units of blood, thankfully after that I felt normal again,” he said.
Spencer finished his chemotherapy in June 2025, and an MRI after his treatment showed no signs of cancer. But that doesn’t mean recovery was easy for the couple.
‘We go to the doctor together, it’s easier for the oncologist to see us both at the same time,’ explains Jolene.
‘Spencer still can’t walk or drive well, I feel like I can’t have bad days, because I look after my husband. I still have to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner and take care of everyone.’
This also impacts their children. “Our kids are coping well, but their perspective on things has changed,” he added. ‘In school assignments, they always write about their hopes for us to get better and stay healthy.
Spencer now undergoes MRIs every three months to ensure his cancer has not returned, and Jolene is also currently cancer-free.
Despite their diagnosis, the couple remains positive about their future and determined to keep fighting.
“We are living the nightmare that most people live through, but we feel optimistic about the future,” Jolene said.
‘We have a long life, and we will fight for it, we will not give up.’
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