Casey Z. Porter Foundation for Brain Cancer Research

Casey Zertuche Porter was born December 2, 1981 in San Antonio,Texas. She was a 2000 graduate of Judson High School in Converse, Texas, and subsequently earned her Bachelor of Journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 2004, and her Master's of Arts in Administration Sports Management with Distinction degree from Incarnate Word University in 2007. She was a marketing relations manager at Musak Systems of San Antonio, and her passions included softball, creative writing, and Texas Longhorns athletics. In 2008, she married the love of her life, Jeffrey Porter, and found another passion: becoming a loving step-mother to two-year-old Kayden. ​After suffering a seizure in December 2010 at the age of 29, Casey was diagnosed with malignant glioblastoma and told she would only have five years to live. This diagnosis left her and her family devastated. She underwent surgery to remove the bulk of the tumor, but a pea-sized fragment remained inoperable due to it's location on her brain.  ​In spite of her terminal diagnosis, Casey never stopped living her life to the fullest. She continued to fight the disease, staying as healthy as she could, even competing in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in 2011. She also spent time volunteering for The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and traveling the U.S. Because of her personal strength and determination to not be treated differently,  Casey never told anyone outside her immediate family of her diagnosis.
Unfortunately, the tumor in her brain metastasized unexpectedly and rapidly in the fall of 2011. In December, Casey started having unbearable headaches. On Friday, December 16, she was admitted to the hospital with severe head pain. After what appeared to be another seizure, Casey lost all brain function. She left our world too soon on December 17, 2011, at the age of 30.
Casey was more than a wife, daughter, mother, sister and friend. Anyone who met her was won over by her enthusiasm and ever-present laughter. Every day we don't hear that laugh is a hard day, but we plan to keep her memory alive by paying forward the goodwill with which she lived her life.
We miss Casey every day. In our search for understanding and coping with why she was taken so soon, we established the Casey Z. Porter Foundation for Brain Cancer Research in her memory. Our mission is to do everything we can to assist in the fight for a cure, as well as offer support to families with loved ones diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.