About Me

I"m June "Outlier" Fremer Mirassou. You'll have to read my post "The Outlier" to learn how I got my unusual middle name. On September 23, 2014, I was hospitalized due to a series of seizures and an MRI revealed that I have stage IV Glioblastoma Multiforme.

Drugged up June, Day 1, post-surgery to resect the tumor

This page is an attempt to fill you in on who I am because...living with GBM is a part of me, but it's not the whole me. I started this blog as a way to reach out to family and friends and keep them updated on my condition. In fact, the first several entries were originally posted on Caring Bridge (a great website!) and cut & pasted here. But I'm a visual person and one picture per post just wasn't enough for me. In fact, I'm so Type A that I will probably eventually go back and add more pictures to them - because I can!

But now this blog has become something more for me. As I've reached out from the darkness myself and  looked for other people who are living with GBM, I realized that maybe, just maybe I could be a source of...

• inspiration?
• hope?
• or, at the very least, a distraction/entertainment?

in someone else's dark moments.

I have had people reach out from near and far, some of whom I've never met. So, here's a little bit of just who I am. And if you do know me already...there will a quiz later.

MARRIAGE:
I live in the Bay Area, California - a transplant from the East Coast. If you live in California, you know that there are lot of transplants out here. It is a rare to meet a "native" like my husband, who was born and raised in San Jose, CA. However, I  met my husband at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. We've known each other since we were 18 years old, and we're coming up on our 25th wedding anniversary on April 28, 2015. I think we may be on to something...

Steven Kent Mirassou, Jr. is a 6th generation winemaker from the Mirassou Family here in California - but not part of the Mirassou Wine brand. I only bring this up because I get asked that question  --- a lot! Here is a little visual to help you out with that one:

(We are not at all a part Mirassou Wines  - which is one of 60+ labels distributed by Gallo wines.)

We are proprietors of the Steven Kent Winery and Lineage labels in Livermore, CA. If you're interested in the Steven's Family History and our wines, click HERE.

The wine business is a fun one - hard, but fun. Lots of opportunities to meet new people, visit new places, eat delicious food, and of course, drink great wine.  Steven works full-time at it, with an amazing team - wine-making, marketing, and selling wine.

CHILDREN:
Before I started working full-time, I spent 12+ years at home, having and raising our four children...and then they went and grew up! Funny, how that happens!

Thanksgiving 2012 (ages at that time) - April (25), Aidan (21), Me, Sara (18), Katherine (19), and Steven

April got married last year, so we've added a son-in-law/love to the family!

WORK:
I started working as a Teacher (for mostly 5th grade) 13 years ago and was working as an Intervention Specialist (K-5) this year when I was diagnosed. I'm counting that as about a quarter century as an "Educator".

Here I am at Outdoor Science Camp, teaching the kids not to fear spiders!

Oh, and Bonus Job! I had just started working part-time in the tasting room in the spring of 2014, which is a blast! I love the Steven Kent Winery Family! <smooches!> and I love educating people about our wines and family history!

TRAVEL:
One of the perks of being in the wine business is that it allows us many opportunities to travel - which we love. We go to Las Vegas 2-3 times a year because there are so many great restaurants (with great wine lists!) in such a concentrated place. Don't tell the casinos, but it is a rare, rare time when we even gamble $20 while we're there. It's all about the food/wine/drink/shows and spectacle of it all! I'm afraid I can't share too much about the Vegas trips because you know how that goes....

What? You didn't have a shark tank in your suite in Vegas?

In 2014, we also had the chance to go on an Alaskan Cruise through Regent Seven Seas and host a series of winemaker tastings/dinners. I've been to almost all the states in the contiguous U.S. and also Hawaii, so it was a kick for me to get up there. Looking at  a map, we barely scratched the surface of what that state has offer, but it was beautiful! (I will resist inserting a Sarah Palin joke in there, but if it means anything, we sure HEARD a lot of them from the natives when we were touring in ports of call.)

Sparkling and a caviar bar for breakfast while cruising the Outside Passage? Yes, please!

OUTSIDE WORK/HOBBIES - In Addition to traveling for work, I love to be at...

The Beach...

At Manresa State Beach with one of our two rescue doggies, Capi (who is named for Capitola, CA - one of the best beach towns in CA)

Our other rescue dog, a "Baja Mutt".  We named her Tesla - not after the inventor/car, but after the Tesla Rd. where our winery is located.

Hiking...

Annual Father's Day Hiking Trip with siblings, Zealand Falls Hut, White Mountains, NH

Lake of the Clouds AMC Hut - White Mountains, NH with my dad, 2013

Running...
Yes, I like to run. I know some people think that's crazy, but I've run a fair number of races including some half-marathons and full-marathons. (That's 13.1 miles and 26.2 miles respectively for the uninitiated. Yes, at one time.)

One of my favorite races: Disney Princess Half Marathon with my sister, 2013

<insert screeching tires sound effects here>

So, then, this totally RANDOM thing happened to me. In August 2014, I started having seizures which eventually led to a the prognosis: Gliablostoma Multiforme. That was the Mother of all WTF's.
I will be finished with my initial treatment protocol (chemo/radiation) on December 12, 2014.  Then I'll be in the process of recovery and....???

I have addressed the Medical "Now What? on a separate page, and I want to share my plans about my personal life moving forward - with the major caveat that none of us really know what's going to happen tomorrow, do we?

A new mantra for me: We can PLAN our lives, but we cannot fully CONTROL them. That's a hard concept for a Type A personality like myself to internalize....but I'm working on it!