Brandon Strong

My Name is Brandon Gabino Gonzalez. I was born on January 6, 2003 and I am currently studying Finance at Villanova University. I am a first generation, Ecuadorian college student and I currently live with my parents Maria and Gabino, my little brother Jason and my dogs Hazel and Nova. Growing up I loved to hangout with my family and play sports.

During summer of 2017, heading into high school, I began to get random headaches and become very nauseous a lot throughout my days. I drove several hours with my parents visiting several doctors but no one had any answers to my symptoms. Everything changed in early July after spending a weekend with my two best friends down the shore.

Early on July 10, 2017 my symptoms began again. But this time the pain was unbearable. My mother immediately called the local hospital for an ambulance, and after being at the local hospital for 2 hours, they found a cancerous tumor in the back of my brain. I was immediately put on another ambulance to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and when I arrived I was put into emergency brain surgery. Before I was put into surgery, I thought that I would be back on the football field in weeks...but boy was I wrong.

After surgery, I had to spend a month in the hospital to regain the ability to do things that I did on a daily basis like walk, talk, tie my shoes and so much more. Every day my routine consisted of me eating, doing some sort of therapy, and finding something amusing to do. It became very hard at times to stay positive, but the people around me always kept me positive.

Once I was finally released my fight continued. I completed 30 rounds of radiation and went through 4 rounds of chemotherapy. The treatment process had so many ups and downs and I know that it would not have been possible without the friends and family that supported me through it all.

After 2 years of being cancer free I was diagnosed once again in August of 2020. Since then I have kept up with my battle with cancer and I am here to help others fight as well.

I know how much the emotional and financial support can help a family that is going through or has went through something like I did so I am here to make a difference one family at a time.