MARCH 2018 46 | {stories of perseverance} A 2ND ACT Judy Pearson | CONTRIBUTING WRITER Lanette Veres’s grandmother was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1992. “She basically raised me,” Veres said. “But bizarre things began to happen. This woman who took me to her Bible studies suddenly started dropping the F-bomb and became incontinent. Obviously, something was wrong.” Nine weeks later, Veres’s grandmother died. And to her surprise, Veres learned that a number of her grandmother’s siblings had also died of the disease. The experience left Veres with a powerful urge to be a voice, though she couldn’t grasp what that meant. So she squeezed in volunteering at Hospice of the Valley between parenting and her day job in financial new business development. And then Veres was diagnosed with the “family disease”: anaplastic oligodendroglioma, an uncommon brain cancer. Her treatment protocol required the removal of the right side of her hippocampus and the tip of her temporal lobe, plus four additional trips to the operating room. Veres’s ah-ha moment came after her first surgery. No support groups or advocacy information accompanied her release from the hospital. “There was clearly a need,” Veres said. “I had sales skills, volunteer experience and a drive to give back. And now I had a cancer history as well.” A brain cancer conference in Florida held the key. A newlywed, Veres convinced her husband that the conference would be the perfect honeymoon destination. He agreed, and Gray Matters Foundation was born soon after. Since then, Gray Matters Foundation — and Veres, as she’s a one-woman show — are the go-to organization for brain cancer patients, survivors and those who love them. Need a child’s hospital room decorated? Gray Matters Foundation will do it. Got a question about scary Internet brain cancer info? Veres WHAT REALLY MATTERS Brain cancer survivor forms foundation to support others impacted by the disease

MARCH 2018 | 47 is the girl to call, but she’ll tell you, “Stay off the Internet. That information will give you the heebie-jeebies.” Patients and their family members become “Brain Buddies” via the foundation’s website. Veres spends time counseling the terrified newly diagnosed and runs the brain cancer support group for Barrow Neurological Institute. And then there’s her signature give-back: sending cards covered with stickers, inside and out. While the majority of her one-on-one work is done in Arizona, she’s sent cards to all 50 states and 23 different countries. Some of the work is heartbreaking. Several years ago, Veres caught a television news story about 2-year-old Carson, who had just been diagnosed with a baseball-sized brain tumor. Carson’s uncle had adopted him just days before the doctors gave him a death sentence. Veres met both Carson and his new “dad,” and then decorated his hospital room with Spiderman — Carson’s favorite superhero. She rocked Carson every day, giving his dad a respite. Veres arrived one day to find Carson alone. The nurses told her that his dad had been diagnosed with MRSA, a dangerous and potentially deadly form of staph infection. For a time, Veres was Carson’s only visitor, and from that point on, she became his “auntie.” The silver lining is that today, after brain surgery and a stem cell transplant, 5-year- old Carson has no evidence of disease. “We’re about support, not statistics, for children, adults and families facing brain cancer,” Veres said. “Brain tumors don’t discriminate, and they don’t arrive at a Lanette Veres, the founder of Gray Matters Foundation, comforts young Carson, a fellow brain cancer survivor.