Burlington mother fights rare brain cancer after seven-year battle

Kimberly Andrade’s battle with a rare brain cancer has stretched across seven years, four surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy, reshaping nearly every part of life for a young Burlington family in Alamance County. Diagnosed in 2019 at age 20, Andrade has continued treatment even as the disease has remained unpredictable, with doctors, as she put it, having “have no idea what can happen” because of how fast the tumor can grow or whether it will spread.

Her first symptoms were small enough to overlook at first, beginning with numbness in her right leg. They later grew into balance problems and seizures, and she now uses a walker. That progression has turned routine into logistics, with her mother, Michelle Eastwood, saying the family’s life is centered around home and Duke Hospital. The illness has touched parenting, work and finances, leaving the family to juggle care while trying to keep daily life steady for Andrade’s children.

Andrade said her diagnosis is primary intracranial angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, a condition medical literature describes as exceptionally rare. One review of the disease reported only four primary intracranial AFH tumors had been documented at the time, a reminder of how little is known about the cancer and why each case can be so difficult to treat. That rarity has also shaped the search for answers, because there is no standard playbook for a disease this uncommon.

Specialized care has made Duke a critical part of that search. The Duke Cancer Center Brain Tumor Clinic, part of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, says it combines research breakthroughs, clinical trials and the newest therapies for brain cancer. For families like Andrade’s, that kind of expertise can mean repeated trips, long waits between scans and decisions made one MRI at a time. Another scan is expected in about a month, and the next treatment step will depend on what doctors see.

The wider context is sobering. The American Cancer Society estimates about 2,114,850 new cancer cases and 626,140 cancer deaths in the United States in 2026, while brain tumor advocates say progress for these cancers has lagged behind gains seen in many others. The American Brain Tumor Association, founded in 1973 by two mothers looking for answers, has since funded more than $30 million in brain tumor research. For Andrade, the motivation remains her children, and a GoFundMe has been set up as the family leans on community help while facing a cancer that still cannot be predicted.