Wendy and Gila met at Girl Scout camp in the summer of 1974. Gila picked Wendy out of the crowd of campers waiting to get on the bus. "Her, I want to meet her!"

They became best friends at camp. Later that summer, when Wendy's mother met Gila’s mother, she recognized her from photos. "I know you," she said, "You dated my husband!" For years, Wendy and Gila joked that they could have been one person. As it turned out, Wendy's parents were married at the same place as Gila’s parents, two weeks apart.

In 1984, Gila’s brother Lee set up a blind date for Wendy with his best friend, Leo (“two of the sweetest people in the world”). They were almost immediately inseparable and, shortly after, they married. A few years later, their beautiful daughter Stephanie was born.

In 2001, Gila's brother died in an accident. Leo spoke at his funeral. In 2007, after being diagnosed with neck cancer, Leo also passed away. These life events led Gila, a massage therapist since 1992, to take her first Oncology Massage course at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC. In 2009, she took hands-on training with Tracy Walton, a nationally acclaimed Oncology Massage instructor.

In 2019, Wendy had a seizure. A brain tumor was found and removed with surgery. Wendy had glioblastoma. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy but, after 7 months, the tumor was back. Her only hope was a clinical trial. Stephanie's research led them to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. After a 2nd surgery, Wendy entered into the clinical trial. Creating a "'vaccine" using glioblastoma cells and Wendy's own genetic material, the goal was to have her body recognize glioblastoma as a foreign body and attack it.

Wendy and Stephanie moved from Phoenix into an apartment in Rochester, MN in March, 2020, when Covid shut everything down. After several months, the clinical trial was working! Wendy's tumor was shrinking!! Now, if only the world were open, Wendy could have travelled and visited her many friends and loved ones. But mom and daughter were confined to their apartment in Minnesota.

After the last vaccine, in December 2020, Wendy and Stephanie returned home. Wendy was making plans - travel to Hawaii, to the east coast, a cruise, maybe even Thailand! Stephanie moved back with her husband to their new home in Death Valley, CA. The world was opening back up, and things looked bright.

In June 2021, while on her first planned trip with friends in Las Vegas, Wendy showed a sudden decline in comprehension and ability to speak. Stephanie met her in Vegas and they flew to Minnesota for an MRI. The news wasn't good - there was a new tumor, this time in the corpus callosum.

In August, while Gila was with Wendy in Phoenix, they got the news from the oncologist. There was no more that could be done.

Wendy passed away on November 5, 2021.

Wendy always hoped that, no matter what her outcome was, her participation in the clinical trial would help others.

In honor of her lifelong friend and soul sister Wendy, in honor of Wendy's husband Leo, and in honor of their daughter Stephanie who was a dedicated and loving full time caregiver, Gila has started this nonprofit. In this way, Wendy's legacy can still help others.