Our lives changed forever in December of 2000. On December 8th, Kevin was involved in a minor car accident. The next day Kevin told me he could not see to the left; at first I thought he was just kidding because Kevin was forever joking around and not being serious. However, the next day he said "Mom, I really can’t see to the left”. I checked his peripheral vision and found he really could not see to his left.

At first, we thought he might have had a detached retina so we took him to the eye doctor on December 12th. The eye doctor did some tests and said "I think he has a brain tumor - it is probably benign - but we will need to do a MRI to be sure." Kevin had his first MRI on Dec. 14, 2000 and it was then that we were told; yes, Kevin does have a brain tumor - and it is most likely the worst kind. We were immediately sent to a neurosurgeon who told us that another MRI would be necessary and a biopsy would have to be done to find out for sure what we were dealing with.

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and good things never die."

From the movie Shawshank Redemption

Kevin had his first surgery on December 20, 2000 and unfortunately it was determined that the tumor was highly aggressive and inoperable because of the location. He was started on radiation and chemotherapy to try and stop the growth of this lemon size tumor that was growing in his head. We traveled to the Brain Tumor Center at Duke, hoping that they would have the answer - to find the cure for Kevin. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. After trying radiation, 3 kinds of chemotherapy and 2 surgeries, Kevin lost the battle and joined Jesus on August 9, 2001 at the age of 17.

Kevin was always the strong one, so full of hope. When he first heard that he had a brain tumor, he told me " well, I can deal with the vision loss as long as the tumor is not cancer." When he found out that the tumor was cancerous, he said "well, as long as I can fight this and continue with school I can handle this."  He never gave up hope that he would be cured. One day, when we were coming back from one of his treatments, I asked him what he thought about the odds they had given him (they weren’t very promising)... he said, “Mom if I worry about that, you might as well bury me right now”. He had a favorite quote from the movie Shawshank Redemption: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and good things never die.”  He would ask me all the time, “Mom, what is that quote I like?” - I could never remember, but then he would tell me.

Kevin continued to go to school. He finished his junior year and was able to go to the junior prom. He wanted so much to be able to graduate with his class.  He wanted to give a talk about hope but, again, that was not meant to be.  Kevin touched many lives in his short time with us and he is missed so much by his family and friends. He wanted a cure to be found so that others would not have to go through what he did.

He told his mom that he wished all the people running in the Race for the Cure fundraisers would be doing so for brain tumor research - so his family began the Kevin Mullin Memorial for Brain Tumor Research. For the past 5 years, a 5K Run/Walk has been held to raise money for that fund. Hopefully, one day this won’t be necessary, but until that day comes, Kevin’s family will continue to keep his hope for a cure alive and well.