LeeAnn Tripp is a rare survivor of a normally fatal form of cancer.

It was a rare occurrence when the North Huntingdon native was diagnosed as an adult with a deadly brain cancer normally found in no more than 300 U.S. children each year.

She has beaten the odds again — in a more fortunate way — by spending a decade in remission from the disease that has an average survival rate of less than one year.

Tripp is sharing her experience and a related message of hope in her memoir, “Finding the Rainbow: The Other Side of a Cancer Journey,” released this year by Dorrance Publishing.

“I knew my story was exceptionally rare and difficult, and I wanted to do something good with that,” she said. “I want to offer hope to anyone who may be facing cancer or any difficult circumstance.”

Tripp, 42, has reached an open-ended prognosis for her continued life expectancy in remission from diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an aggressive, inoperable cancerous growth in a part of the brainstem that is responsible for bodily functions such as breathing, sleeping, bladder control and balance.

Learning to live with that status has taken some time.

“I was still feeling bitter and betrayed that this happened to me,” Tripp said. “It took me a while to kind of see that cancer changed my life, but it didn’t necessarily ruin my life.

“The big takeaway is that facing my mortality taught me to live more fully.”

A 1999 Norwin High School graduate, Tripp holds a master’s degree in professional writing and editing. She is a wife and mother of two who lives in Bellefonte, Centre County, and is the director of brand and channel strategy for Penn State’s online world campus.

In 2012, two months after the birth of her second child, she was shocked to learn she had developed diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG. The rare cancer usually is diagnosed in children ages 5-7 and has a two-year survival rate of less than 10%, according to DIPG.org.

Problems with her vision led Tripp to seek help and ultimately get the bad news of a cancer diagnosis following an MRI scan. She has received therapy to help with her vision but still experiences double vision on occasion.

“I didn’t have headaches, but I had a tingling in my head at the end of my pregnancy,” she said.

Much about DIPG has yet to be pinned down by medical researchers, Tripp said.

She said her doctors theorize her cancer may have remained dormant until she was expecting her second child.

“The pregnancy may have caused it to grow a little bit, until it put pressure on my optic nerve,” she said.

Tripp opted to undergo a risky biopsy of the growth in her brainstem to confirm the DIPG diagnosis before beginning targeted radiation therapy.

Based on lifetime exposure limits, she said, “You only get one shot at radiation for your brainstem.”

She completed 36 rounds of radiation treatment and was on a steroid regimen to help with resulting symptoms.

“I had a really miraculous response to my treatment, and I’ve been stabilized for the past 10 years,” Tripp said.

Her disease is monitored with an MRI scan every two years. No new tumor growth has been detected.

Once she was in remission, Tripp said, “I really struggled with assimilating back into normal life. You can think about cancer as a trauma — it leaves you with scars and triggers.

“I thought, ‘Surely, there’s at least one other person who’s feeling this way, too.”

Then she became involved with a Facebook group of nearly 500 other adults who have been diagnosed with DIPG.

That contact has made her feel less isolated living with the rare disease that has no cure.

“It has been beneficial to be connected with them,” she said.

Tripp will sign copies of her book from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Feathers Artist Market and Gifts in downtown Irwin.

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