Jelena was an energetic, young girl that had great plans for her bright future. She was always bouncing around laughing, playing, and always had a funny quip to say. She was a straight A student and loved gymnastics, basketball, and most of all volleyball. Jelena had plans to join her high schools volleyball team and one day go to college in Florida where she hoped to study law.

Before the start of her freshman year of high school, Jelena was having frequent headaches that led her to the ER. Doctors discovered two masses on her brain and on April 8th, 2021 she was diagnosed with DIPG. Things escalated quickly at that point and Jelena was accepted into a clinical trial at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Jelena and her family remained hopeful that her clinical trial would be a success and spent the next months together helping Jelena fight this horrible disease. In true Jelena fashion, she faced these challenging treatments with courage and strength. She would hide the affects chemo and radiation had on her and persevered through it with a smile on her face. Jelena was a true warrior. After fighting for her life for almost a year, Jelena found peace and passed away with her family surrounding her on March 19, 2022.

"Jelena discovered The Cure Starts Now when she was going through her treatment. She had faith that one day a cure could be found. Let’s keep her hope alive so no child has to go through this ever again." - The Grmaca Family

Thank you for choosing to donate to The Cure Starts Now Foundation. 100% of this donation, after credit card processing fees, goes directly towards research to find the homerun cure for cancer starting with pediatric brain cancer research.

If you would like to make a donation by mail please send a check to:  The Cure Starts Now Foundation; 10280 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45215 and put the child's name in the memo.

The family receives notification of all donations made to this tribute fund automatically.