'G'Owen Strong' for Brain Tumor Research
Those who knew and loved Owen Strong describe him as tall, lanky, handsome, smart, happy, funny, and nice: in sum, befitting his 2018 Halloween costume as The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), said his girlfriend, Stacia Smart. And Owen loved in big, giant ways, too, focusing less on his own needs and more on those of his family and friends. It was out of love that he protected them, as much as he could, after he was diagnosed with the worst kind of brain tumor in 2018.
The New York City native was 28 years old when he was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). His neurosurgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering was truthful, telling Owen and family — parents Ed Strong and Laurel Durst and sister Leda Strong — that he would be lucky to have five more years. Two years was more likely. Laurel remembers him saying, “Well, two years is pretty good.”
When he met Stacia at a Halloween party some months later, they talked for hours, but not about his diagnosis, or how his treatment was making him sick. In fact, it would be about two months before Owen would tell Stacia about the GBM diagnosis at all, and when he did, her reaction was probably nothing he expected.
“The first question I asked was if he was part of the ‘polio trial,’” said Stacia. “He lit up and told me that he had just been accepted.”
