A Homestead woman who survived brain cancer is sharing her journey of recovery and resilience as she prepares to take part in the 2026 Dolphins Cancer Challenge.
Irene Morales, 34, is now cancer free after undergoing emergency surgeries and months of treatment, and she is using her story to show what survivorship looks like. The artist at heart was 30 years old and living with a roommate in Atlanta, Georgia, when symptoms she thought were migraines turned out to be something far more serious.
“This happened in January of 2021. I was experiencing extreme migraines, nausea, vomiting, and my vision went dark one day for maybe 10 seconds,” Morales told CBS News Miami.
She went to her eye doctor, who immediately referred her to a neurologist. An MRI revealed a tumor in the back of her cerebellum.
“We did an MRI, and they did find a tumor in the back of my cerebellum, so I had to get emergency surgery the following day. I called my sister, she’s hysterically crying. I’m hysterically crying, so she kind of had to break the news to my parents,” Morales said.
Morales underwent two emergency brain surgeries in Atlanta before a family friend connected her with doctors at the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. For a year and a half, she received treatment that included proton radiation and chemotherapy. Eventually, she received the news she had been waiting for.
“I think the first person I told was my mom.” Morales said. “I was so happy that she was the first person I told because she suffered the most, she saw me, and my whole family saw me. And I think, you know, it’s hard for a parent to see their kids sick, and they couldn’t do anything.”
Finding support through survivorship and the Dolphins Cancer Challenge
Now living with her family in Homestead, Morales is adjusting to a new chapter of life while leaning on fellow survivors she met through Sylvester’s survivorship program. She is also part of Sylvester’s “Believe in You” campaign, which is preparing cancer patients and survivors to participate in the Dolphins Cancer Challenge at Hard Rock Stadium on Feb. 28.
“I never feel alone.” Morales said. “I built such an amazing community that it’s incredible that I don’t have to explain to people, oh, I experienced this, and I experienced chemo brain, which is very real. And they get it.” She went on to tell us “I’m so grateful to have that community within my reach.”
Morales will take part in the 5K at the Dolphins Cancer Challenge with her family by her side, hoping to inspire others through her experience.
“I think it’s inspirational to see these survivors come together and celebrate life. We are living proof that we beat cancer, and we deserve to see, to be celebrated and celebrate,” she said. “I think with the DCC, they’ve inspired me to, you know, help people.” She says the event has “made me stronger of overcoming this and hoping to inspire others with my own story and telling them to never give up, because that fight is hard and you can if I did it, you can do it.”
