Britt Leoni
•7/21/2026
At 24 years old, Andrea Nieves is driven towards her future.
"I had just started my life, I had just moved to New York," said Nieves. "Everything started to fall into place."
Until in one moment, that excitement turned into fear.
"It quite literally all crumbled," said Nieves.
Five years ago, at just 19 years old, doctors told Nieves she had a rare brain tumor called central neurocytoma.
"I don't know if I was really able to process what was going on," said Nieves. "It was just surreal."
It was also surreal for her brother, 18-year-old Darren Nieves.
"Your sister has a brain tumor," said Darren. "I remember I felt like I was being erupted with different emotions, what's going on, what does that mean?"
His sister's diagnosis sparked questions. Darren decided to find answers. Not just for his family, but for others.
Last year, Darren founded "Minds Over Tumors," a non-profit that helps families with kids who have brain tumors.
"I know my parents, when I told them about this, I think they probably thought 'okay, this is going to be a school thing and he'll go off to college. He'll figure it out,'" said Darren.
While Andrea is healthy today, she's joined her brother in his dedication to the cause.
"To know that my brother took the reins and just decided to do it his own without much help at all really is just crazy," said Andrea.
As Andrea and Darren continue fighting for other families, they strengthen the bond of their own.
"I never thought that we'd be doing this, let alone together," said Darren.
Proving that when life brings adversity of our own, we can help lighten the load of that adversity for others.
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