Young boy battling rare brain cancer finds relief at Timberwolves games
By Nick Lunemann
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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — On the surface, Jase Coubal is a kid in a candy store, but behind the Timberwolves super fan’s courtside grin is a kid going through so much more.
“He loves going to the (Timberwolves) games. He thinks that that’s just super fun. He gets into it, he likes the crowd,” Jase’s mom, Becky Coubal, said.
Months ago, in a different crowd, is where Jase Coubal’s story starts, holding a sign with an urgent message to his favorite player at the Falcons and Vikings football game.
“It said, ‘Hey JJ, help me beat cancer.'” Becky Coubal said. “So in November of last year, Jase was outside playing with a friend and he came running home crying. They had been having a snowball fight and he got hit in the face. We didn’t think anything of it other than, ‘You got hurt but you’re O.K.'”
The next day, she got a phone call from the school nurse that he just wasn’t himself. So they went to the pediatrician.
“She had him just stand and she was going to have him walk to watch and she immediately told us we need to go to Children’s,” Becky Coubal said.
A CT scan revealed the worst. At 7 years old, Jase Coubal was up against the biggest opponent anyone could ever face.
“He has a type of tumor called a diffuse midline glioma,” Dr. Anne Bendel, a pediatric neurooncologist with Children’s Hospital Minnesota said.
It’s known as DMG, an ultra-rare cancer that’s highly dangerous.
“These tumor cells are pretty resistant to our treatments and we can’t surgically remove them,” Bendel said.
But like a true sports fan, Jase is willing to do what it takes to win, including a clinical trial.
“The way that vaccine therapies work is they rev up your immune system to recognize your tumor as being foreign,” Bendel said.
His mom hopes it can save him and others with DMG for years to come.
“It’s not rare, it’s so prevalent in so many people’s lives. Their families know that there’s not enough there for kids like Jase,” Becky Coubal said.
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