Former Congresswoman Mia Love’s Daughter Is ‘Building An Archive of Special Memories’ Amid Her Mom’s Brain Cancer Battle — Coping With a Loved One’s Diagnosis

Abigail continued, “We have a shifted our focus from treatment to enjoying our remaining time with her. I am building an archive of special memories with Mia.

“Please send your pictures, videos and memories to me at [email protected]. Thank you.”

The heartfelt post received dozens of comments, offering support for Abigail, or her mom, and their loved ones, with one person writing, “Absolutely devastating/ Abigale, I am so sorry….your Mama is lucky to have all of you surrounding her with love and prayer.

Hello Friends, I’m Mia’s daughter Abigale. Many of you are aware that Mom has been fighting GBM brain cancer. Sadly her cancer is no longer responding to treatment and the cancer is progressing. We have a shifted our focus from treatment to enjoying our remaining time with her. I… pic.twitter.com/xlJfSC3IX7

— Mia Love (@MiaBLove) March 1, 2025

“Losing your parent at any age is one of the most difficult things to go through, but remember she will always be with you and watching over you, I promise. God bless all of you. Your Mama is a very special human.”

Another wrote, “Thinking of you, Mia, and praying for you and your family. May you enjoy this time together, and may God bring you peace and comfort in the days ahead.”

“Praying for your mom and your family that you may be comforted and find the peace that is not of this world, that you may weather this storm. I don’t know your mom, but from all the outpouring of love I’m reading I wish I had gotten to know her. (I’m not in the public eye I’m just a woman politicking from my couch) We need more people like her,” commented a third.

Mia Love’s Glioblastoma Diagnosis

Last year, Mia spoke with CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” where she explained how she was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2022.
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During the interview, which took place in May 2024, Mia said she started undergoing immunotherapy every three weeks in August 2023.

The treatment was part of a clinical trial at The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University.

Despite her health battle, she admitted that faith was helping her through treatment, explaining further, “I was looking for a cure in my faith and in science.

“Funny thing is, my patriarchal blessing said you will have a long and prosperous life, a rich and rewarding life, so long as you decide to remain in public service.”

Following her interview, she took to Facebook to tell her followers about the interview.

Mia, who is known as the first black GOP congresswoman, wrote, “It hasn’t been an easy journey, but I share it because I want my journey to give others hope. Whether you are facing a cancer diagnosis yourself, or fighting a different battle, there is hope! For me, that hope comes from my faith and my family.

“Both have been a source of immeasurable strength, peace, love, and support. Every day, I thank God for my life and a family who give that life beauty and meaning.”

Understanding Glioblastoma Tumors

Glioblastoma is considered a central nervous system (CNS) tumor.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the average survival rate of glioblastoma is 15 months with treatment and less than six if left untreated. While there is a five-year survival rate averaging 6 percent, those individuals will never be cancer-free. They must continue receiving radiation and chemotherapy for the rest of their lives.

Glioblastomas are tricky to treat and manage because their cells are heterogeneous, meaning that each one must be individually targeted to slow tumor growth. Surgery cannot remove all the cancer because the tumor burrows into the brain, so the tumor starts to grow again immediately after surgery.

Glioblastoma risk factors can include:

• Prior radiation exposure
• Gender: men are more likely to get glioblastoma than women
• Age: people 50 years or older are more likely to get glioblastoma
• Certain genetic syndromes, including neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, von Hippel-Lindau disease

Symptoms for glioblastoma can vary depending on the area of the brain where the tumor begins and spreads and its growth rate, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center. But common symptoms of glioblastoma can include:

• Headaches
• Seizures
• Changes in mental function, mood, or personality
• Changes in speech
• Sensory changes in hearing, smell, and sight
• Loss of balance
• Changes in your pulse and breathing rate

Current Options to Treat Glioblastoma

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved some drug treatments, including temozolomide (Temodar), to help patients living with this aggressive disease.

Temozolomide is a chemotherapy drug patients can take after surgery and radiation therapy.

Dr. Daniel Wahl, professor of radiation and oncology at the University of Michigan, explains Temozolomide is an oral drug that  “slows down tumor growth.”

“Patients with GBM have effective treatment options; there are four of them: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and tumor targeting fields. These are electric fields that we can use to treat these cancers,” Dr. Wahl said.

Other FDA-approved drugs for treating glioblastoma include lomustine (Gleostine), intravenous carmustine (Bicnu), carmustine wafer implants, and Avastin (bevacizumab).

Avastin is a targeted drug therapy that blocks glioblastoma cells from requesting new blood vessels that feed and allow the tumor to grow.

“Outcomes for these patients are still suboptimal. What I tell my patients is that we have these effective treatments, but what they do is they delay the time to when this tumor comes back. Only in exceptional circumstances would we ever talk about getting rid of one of these cancers,” Dr. Wahl said.

WATCH: Using electric sources to improve glioblastoma treatment.

Fortunately, research is ongoing to improve the prognosis for people battling glioblastoma. One area of promise is tumor-treating fields, which can help extend patients’ lives by two years on average, giving them hope.

Optune, the brand name for the tumor-treating field delivery device, was launched in 2011 and approved by the FDA in 2015. It is a wearable and portable device for glioblastoma treatment for adult patients aged 22 years or older.

“There’s been a very exciting development of tumor treating fields, which are electrical fields that have been applied to the brain,” Dr. Suriya Jeyapalan, a neurologist at Tufts Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

TTFields use low-intensity electric fields to disrupt the cell division process, making it harder for cancerous cells to multiply.

Despite Optune’s hope, not all cancer experts agree with its approach, including Dr. Henry Friedman, a renown neuro-oncologist at Duke Cancer Center.

“Although the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recognizes Optune within its guidelines as a therapy for glioblastoma, many people don’t believe it adds value. At Duke, for example, we don’t consider it a mainstay of therapy,” Dr. Friedman previously told SurvivorNet.

Brain Cancer Clinical Trials Offering Hope

In March 2024, early results in a phase I clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine found three patients who saw significant reductions in their brain tumors, and one of them saw her tumor experience “near-complete tumor regression.”

Researchers made such progress using a form of CAR T-cell Therapy, a cancer treatment that re-engineers the immune system to target cancer from within.

Although the clinical trial phase for this treatment is far from complete, it presents an opportunity for further exploration of treating glioblastoma.

“The CAR T platform has revolutionized how we think about treating patients with cancer, but solid tumors like glioblastoma have remained challenging to treat because not all cancer cells are exactly alike, and cells within the tumor vary. Our approach combines two forms of therapy, allowing us to treat glioblastoma in a broader, potentially more effective way,” Dr. Bryan Choi, a neurosurgeon and associate director of the Center for Brain Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy, Cellular Immunotherapy Program at Mass General Cancer Center and Department of Neurosurgery said in a news release.

CAR T-cell therapy works by re-engineering a patient’s immune cells into more efficient cancer fighters. The process starts with T-cells, white blood cells that help the immune system respond to threats in the body, such as germs and cancer cells.

After the T-cells are removed from a patient’s blood, doctors use an inactivated virus to insert new genes into them. The new genes carry instructions to create special proteins called receptors on the T-cell’s surface. The modified T-cells are multiplied and then given back to the patient.

Once the re-engineered cells are re-inserted into the body, the T-cells find and attach to a matching protein called an antigen on the surface of the cancer cells.

WATCH: CAR T-Cell Therapy Success Rates and Ability to Improve Quality of Life

Coping With a Love One’s Diagnosis and Grief

Grief is defined as the devastation that occurs when we lose someone, however, it is often felt when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer. Grieving comes in five stages, commonly referred to as the “five stages of grief.”

The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These labels help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These stages can occur in any order.

As you experience some of these stages, remember that the emotions you are feeling are meaningful but also temporary. If you approach them with compassion, kindness, and eventual acceptance, you will come away from this period with a renewed sense of resilience and purpose.

WATCH: Managing the stages of grief.

“Grief comes in waves,” says Dr. Scott Irwin, a psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “They’re grieving the change in their life; the future they had imagined is now different.”

Some days can be tougher than others, but Dr. Irwin says talk therapy can be helpful. For the help you need, it’s important to reach out to your doctor, a therapist, or support groups in your community.

New York-based clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin says it may be helpful to remind yourself that these feelings are “meaningful yet temporary.”

RELATED: Tools To Navigate Grief And Shame: Dr. Marianna Strongin Addresses These Topics In Her New Column ‘Strong In Cancer’

“If you approach them with compassion, kindness, and eventually acceptance, you will come away from this period in your life more connected to your resilience and strength,” she wrote for SurvivorNet.

Health Challenges Can Impact the Entire Family

Research published in The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine studied the impact of disease on family members. It was found that: “Most chronic diseases have similar effects on family members [as they do on the patient], including psychological and emotional functioning, disruption of leisure activities, effect on interpersonal relationships, and financial resources.”

Feelings of “helplessness, lack of control, anger, embarrassment” are some common emotions parents, siblings, and other relatives within the household of someone battling a health condition may experience, according to researchers.

WATCH: How to talk to your children about your diagnosis.

Other ways a disease, for example, may impact the lives of family members include:

• Affecting sleep
• Concerns about medical treatment
• Altered food choices
• Using religion, spiritual, and cultural beliefs to cope
• Concerns about understanding the disease or illness
• Needing support from others
• Limited freedom
• Worrying about the death of a loved one

Our experts agree that forming a strong support system can help everyone in the family cope with the challenges a diagnosis can bring. These situations can be opportunities to strengthen families and bring them closer together.

Tips to Cope with an Unexpected Diagnosis

Facing a cancer diagnosis can be stressful and scary — but it’s important to remember that you are not alone and there are many directions you can turn to for support. Experts recommend the following:

• Let your family and close friends know and let them help. So many cancer survivors tell us they want and need support but are often too preoccupied to make specific requests. Urge those close to you to jump in with whatever practical help they can offer.
• Keep a journal. It can be highly cathartic to let those feelings loose on paper. Grab a pen and a lovely journal and chronicle your thoughts throughout the day.
• Join a cancer support group. Groups in nearly every community offer opportunities to connect with others going through a similar journey. You’ll learn constructive insight from others who can tell you what to expect and how to stay strong on tough days.
• Consider seeing a therapist. Ask your doctor to refer you to a therapist so you can discuss your fears and concerns in a safe space. Often, vocalizing your thoughts and feelings rather than internalizing them can provide relief.

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Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

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