Meet Our Hosts
Jackie Pilla was Miss Delaware USA 1999 and competed in the Miss USA Pageant in Branson, MO. She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Delaware and received her Master of Education in School Counseling degree from Wilmington University in 1999. Jackie currently lives in Phoenix, AZ where she works as a special education school counselor for students with emotional disabilities.
For many years, Jackie had experienced migraines, depression and problems with memory and balance. In 2006, when the symptoms became unbearable, an MRI revealed what no one could have imagined. On November 16, 2006, two weeks after her 34th birthday, Jackie was diagnosed with a jaw-breaker sized brain tumor. Several neurologists reported that this was an incidental finding and that the tumor wasn’t causing any of her symptoms. One year later, after a neurosurgeon confirmed that the tumor was putting pressure on her brain (and would only continue to grow and increase the pressure), she underwent brain surgery to remove it. Against many doctors’ predictions, years of symptoms ended almost immediately. Throughout her journey, Jackie learned that you need to be your own advocate because no one knows your body and health better than you do. In a University of Delaware newspaper article Jackie states, "Pay attention to your body and trust your instincts". You can read the rest of the article here.
Jackie is passionate about volunteering
and helping others. In 1994, she won the State Community Service Award
at the Miss Delaware pageant for her volunteer work advocating for children’s
rights. Today, she raises brain tumor awareness among the public and supports
young adults affected by cancer. She is the Arizona leader for I’m Too
Young For This, an organization providing services and public outreach
for the young adult cancer community. Jackie is excited to return this
year after hosting last year’s first ever brain tumor awareness walk in
Delaware.
Chris Stein is a singer, songwriter, worship leader, and two-time brain tumor survivor. Chris has been traveling nationally, leading worship, speaking, and giving concerts for youth and adults since 1993. He has also served in all aspects of ministry throughout his career. He has served as a youth pastor, worship pastor, associate pastor, and led a church plant as the lead pastor.
When Chris was 27, his life took an abrupt turn in March of 2001 when after fighting headaches for months and only being treated for symptoms, he began to lose vision in one eye. Chris underwent an MRI and was diagnosed with a golf-ball sized Astrocytoma located in the right temporal lobe and sitting on the optic nerve. Chris had surgery in May ‘01 to remove the tumor. Recovery was long and protracted with Chris losing the ability to use his hands and even remember music. He made his way back through a long hospital stay and rehab to return to the pulpit and stage. Within 10 months though Chris would be back in the hospital to undergo a hip replacement after a bone disease developed from oncology treatments. Not one to stand still, Chris kept playing and speaking, eventually taking his message of hope into the hospital setting where he served as a trauma and pediatric chaplain. But as he found himself serving alongside brain tumor patients in the neuroscience and oncology units, Chris would once again face surgery in January ‘08 for new tumor growth in three areas of his brain. After a brief stay in the very hospital he was working in, Chris returned to work while simultaneously undergoing 7 weeks of daily treatment. He found strength in his colleagues and fellow patients as he worked as a chaplain and lived life as a patient.
As a two-time brain cancer survivor, Chris shares about his health journey and struggles through the songs he wrote during and after his illnesses. When not traveling, Chris now serves as a hospice chaplain for a regional medical group in eastern Pennsylvania. You can read more about Chris or listen to and download music at www.chrisstein.com.