On Mother’s Day last year, Michelle Wilcox was planning her funeral. This year, she and her husband will fly from Chicago to Dallas to meet a granddaughter she was told she might never see.
The mother of four is alive more than a year after being diagnosed with leptomeningeal disease, a rare and aggressive cancer that spreads to the lining of the brain and spinal cord and is often fatal within weeks.
“When someone tells you you have a month to live, everything stops,” Wilcox said. “I picked out a funeral home. I picked out a dress. I thought I was done.”
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Wilcox was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 and responded well to treatment. But in March 2024, while in Florida, she developed severe dizziness, nausea and vomiting. An emergency room MRI revealed a golf ball-sized tumor pressing against her cerebellum.
She was rushed to a local hospital, where surgeons removed most of the tumor and started radiation treatment. When she returned home, further scans revealed leptomeningeal disease.
“It was terrifying,” she said. “That’s when I was told I might have four to eight weeks.”
Wilcox began aggressive treatment under Dr. Robin Buerki, a neuro-oncologist at Northwestern Medical Group, undergoing whole-brain radiation and chemotherapy delivered directly into her spinal fluid.
“There’s a window of opportunity with this disease,” Buerki said. “Acting quickly made a critical difference.”
A year later, her scans show continued disease control. She now receives chemotherapy every other week and continues targeted therapy.
“We can’t cure this,” Buerki said, “but we can control it and preserve quality of life.”
During her illness, Wilcox’s adult children helped plan her final arrangements. Today, they are planning futures instead. Wilcox recently welcomed one grandchild and is expecting another later this year.
“Those grandbabies are my ‘why,’” she said. “Every day now feels like a gift.”
This Mother’s Day, Wilcox will celebrate not just motherhood, but the unexpected time that allowed her to keep living it.
