Ep 20 | April 15, 2026 | 22 mins

I'm very proud to share that I'll be participating in Coaching for Causes for another year. Coaching for Causes is built on two core principles, being of service and making a difference. Each May, certified coaches, like me, from various fields donate our time for virtual and in-person one-on-one coaching sessions. Clients, like you, make a donation to a selected cause in exchange for a session. This ensures that 100 % of proceeds go directly to the nonprofit.

I'm raising funds for Northwestern Medicine Malnati Brain Tumor Institute, where I've received all my treatment and care. The best part is that every coach chooses their own cause, so you can donate to another coach's cause and still coach with me or vice versa. I encourage you to go back and listen to episode 14 to hear Caroline Lehner's story. She's the founder of Coaching for Causes.

Also, visit coachingforcauses.com for details and to find your coach, make a donation and book your session.

In this episode of Rewired Minds, Bri Salsman speaks with Cindy Eich, board chair of the Kendall Nicole Eich Foundation, about the foundation's origins, the lessons learned from Kendall's journey with glioblastoma, and the importance of providing emotional and financial support to brain cancer patients. They discuss the challenges of building a foundation while grieving, the significance of community, and the future aspirations of the foundation to expand its reach and impact.
Kendall was a five-year survivor of glioblastoma.
The foundation was formed to honor Kendall's legacy.
Cindy learned the importance of being true to oneself.
Grief can complicate the process of foundation building.
The foundation focuses on emotional and financial support.
Patients often experience shock after a diagnosis.
Community support is vital for patients and families.
Memory-making experiences are essential for patients.
The foundation aims to connect with patients early in their journey.
Cindy believes in the potential for discoveries in brain cancer research.

Resources
Check out a list of the most common medical terms relating to the brain tumor experience: rewired-minds.com/terms
Connect with brain tumor organizations here: https://www.rewired-minds.com/braintumorresources

Connect with Rewired Minds
Website: rewired-minds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RewiredMindsPod
Instagram: @rewiredmindspod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rewiredminds

Connect with the Kendall Nicole Eich Foundation
Website: lovegoesfurther.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/knefoundation/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knefoundation/#
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Kendall-Nicole-Eich-foundation

If you are a coach of a high school or college team looking for a positive activity for your athletes in the off season, we'd love to talk to you about Kendall's Challenge.


Also, not all patients are physically able to use their second gift to pursue a goal. For some the financial need is so great. So, whatever they need, that's what we want to provide.


Finally, if listeners would like to learn more about our story, they can find Love Goes Further on Amazon.

Be a Guest
Interested in being a guest on a future episode? Visit rewired-minds.com/guest for more information and to submit your request.

Disclaimer
The stories shared here are personal accounts from the brain tumor community for informational and awareness purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding your specific situation. Most importantly, take care of yourself as you listen and process.

Transcript
Bri (00:06)
I'm Bri Salsman, a brain tumor survivor and identity integration coach, and you're listening to Rewired Minds, a podcast that shares brain tumor stories that change us. Sometimes guests use medical terminology, so I've partnered with Northwestern Medicine Malnati Brain Tumor Institute to provide definitions of common terms. You can find the full list in the show notes. Most importantly, take care of yourself as you listen and process.

Bri (00:29)
Before we get into today's episode, I'm very proud to share that I'll be participating in Coaching for Causes for another year. Coaching for Causes is built on two core principles, being of service and making a difference. Each May, certified coaches like me from various fields donate our time for virtual and in-person one-on-one coaching sessions. Clients like you make a donation to a selected cause in exchange for a session. This ensures that 100% of proceeds go directly to the nonprofit.

I'm raising funds for Northwestern Medicine Malnati Brain Tumor Institute, where I've received all my treatment and care. The best part is that every coach chooses their own cause, so you can donate to another coach's cause and still coach with me or vice versa. I encourage you to go back and listen to episode 14 to hear Caroline Lehner's story. She's the founder of Coaching for Causes.

Also, visit coachingforcauses.com for details and to find your coach, make a donation, and book your session.

Bri (01:28)
Today, we're spotlighting the Kendall Nicole Eich Foundation. Joining me to share more is Cindy Eich, who is the board chair. Welcome, Cindy.

Cindy Eich (01:37)
Thank you, Bri. Pleasure to be with you today.

Bri (01:40)
I'm so glad that our paths crossed and that we have this opportunity to connect in this platform and share more and kind of spotlight the work that you're doing. Why don't we start things off with the origin story for the Kendall Nicole Eich Foundation? How did it get started?

Cindy Eich (01:56)
My daughter Kendall was diagnosed with glioblastoma when she was 30 years old. And she was one of the very rare patients who was a five-year survivor. And Kendall did a lot in those five years, and she taught us a lot. And my husband and I thought we'd like to form a foundation. And it was actually quite lovely. Two of Kendall's friends were at the house. And one of them very tentatively said, have you ever thought of starting a foundation? And I said, actually, we have. And they said, thank goodness, that's all we think about.

And so we began with our family. Kendall has three brothers, my husband, myself, a dear friend of ours, and two of Kendall's closest friends.

Bri (02:48)
You mentioned that, in those five years, you learned a lot and she taught you a lot. What are some of those things that that you learned in those five years?

Cindy Eich (02:57)
You know, I think all the things we hear about and we think we've internalized and then you really see them lived out in a way that is so striking. Kendall was really brave and she had great clarity about what she wanted to do. It was probably the clearest she had ever been in her life.

She was joyful. She was confident. We use the phrase undeterred because she really did not let brain cancer consume her life. She was pretty determined to just continue living her life. And so that alone was a really wonderful thing to observe. And then I think just little things. Everyone thinks about when you have to shave your head, right? Or when you're losing your hair from treatment. And Kendall was just absolutely herself. She was unfazed, hair or no hair, it didn't matter. And so the lesson I took from that was just be who you are, right? Understand who you are at the core and be that.

Bri (04:07)
Sounds like being who you are doesn't have anything to do with the physical nature of your body necessarily, that it's something bigger than that.

Cindy Eich (04:19)
Absolutely, absolutely. And we see that in the brain cancer patients that we assist today. They go through these phases that are so difficult physically, right? And they're exhausted, but their bodies change too, right? Their faces and bodies change shape from steroids. They lose their hair. They may have skin related issues from treatments or medications. And yet I think we recognize in them a similar spirit that maybe some of these things on the surface are not so as important as we make them in our everyday lives.

Bri (04:59)
Yeah, the word that keeps coming to mind as you're sharing is essence, the essence of a person.

Cindy Eich (05:02)
Perfect. It's perfect way to describe that.

Bri (05:05)
I don't know if grassroots really feels like the right word for you. How would you describe, you know, getting the foundation off the ground?

Cindy (05:15)
I think I would describe them as thoughtful, intentional. When I look back now, it was probably a little bit early for us to be doing that. I think we had the heart to do it, but we were certainly grieving. And so I think we were very deliberate in determining what we wanted our vision to be, what we wanted our mission to be, how we wanted to pour into the families that we'd be assisting. And so we gave that a lot of thought and it probably took us almost a year to really have clarity in that mission.

Bri (05:58)
Getting a foundation up and running is a lot on its own. And to do that at the same time that you are also processing grief has got to be an especially big challenge. How did you manage both sides of that?

Cindy Eich (06:14)
I want to honestly say sometimes not perfectly. I had been a part of nonprofit foundations before, and I had been a part of leading a nonprofit foundation that was going through a significant transformation, and we were guided by a professional consultant. And it was so helpful, and I really felt I could bring that wisdom to our group and that we were going to do things legally and meticulously and really check all those boxes as I had learned to do.

And yet, if I look back now, I think I would have just been a better listener and not worried about the concrete nature of some of the things that we were dealing with and just really give space for us to grieve and give space for us to really get to the place that I think we got to in the first year.

Bri (07:16)
What do you wish you had heard if you were had been a better listener?

Cindy Eich (07:20)
I think as a mom, you feel like you know so much about your child and I really believe that I knew how Kendall would want to see this manifest itself and yet all of these relationships were so precious. Her friend relationships, her sibling relationships. And so I think I would have listened more to all the little parts of Kendall that maybe I wasn't a daily part of.

Bri (07:49)
In one of our earlier conversations, I remember making a note that a brain cancer diagnosis is physical, it's emotional, and it's financial. How has that perspective influenced what you're doing as an organization?

Cindy Eich (08:06)
So I think that perspective informs everything that we do as a foundation. So we know we can't control the physical, right? We can maybe add comforts to a patient or to a family. We like to provide gifts that maybe waiting rooms a little more tolerable or gifts of comfort and encouragement. But truly the physical nature of this diagnosis is a difficult one. And we can't always control outcomes, we can't control symptoms, things like that. But we really can pour into the emotional and the financial aspects of the diagnosis. And so we have a keen understanding that, when patients are diagnosed with a brain cancer diagnosis, for many of them, a reduction in work or even leaving the financial security of a full-time job is something that they have to do.

Simultaneously, they just have a firestorm of new expenses. So there are medical co-pays, there are prescription costs, there may be transportation costs to get to and from treatment, there may be increased childcare needs. And so one of the things that's really important to us, we try to reach as close to the day of impact as possible, when maybe their heads are still spinning and they're starting to figure out how are we going to do this? How are we going to be able to make this work? And we offer them a measure of financial relief to say, okay, we just want to give you an opportunity to catch your breath as you're making a plan on how to best move forward.

Kendall was a really goal-oriented girl, and we saw how that goal really transformed her cancer experience. And when she would get together with friends and family, we didn't talk always about MRIs and doctor's appointments and treatment and side effects. People would ask about her goal and where she had been and where she was going next. And it really transformed every conversation she had.

So our first gift to patients is the one I described, where we hope they can just catch their breath. And then whenever possible, we like to grant a second gift and that's to help a patient pursue a goal or enjoy a memory making experience.

Bri (10:44)
That first gift is so critical because, you said it, but I feel like it needs to be emphasized. I love the way you described it of just catching your breath. I’ve had several conversations with patients, survivors and caregivers at this point. And one of the themes is, “I was in shock for a period of time. I couldn't process anything. I'm being inundated with all this information and I wasn't expecting this and this wasn't part of the plan,” and you know, spinning and trying to get your feet underneath you again. And like you said, catch your breath. That's something that is really different and unique about the Kendall Nicole Eich Foundation and why I wanted to share your all's resources with our community. How are you all able to connect with patients at that point of diagnosis?

Cindy Eich (11:37)
Most everyone that we have assisted has been a personal referral. We have a fundraising event and it's being held at Kendall's alma mater versus our neighboring school. Events like these are where we have been introduced to numerous patients. And people will be in the crowd and then we'll get a call or an email that following week to say, do you know about this person or have you heard about this family?

Bri (12:05)
Yeah, I think that's very indicative of the brain tumor community in general. I can speak for myself, before I was diagnosed, I would have said, no, I don't know anyone with a brain tumor. And almost as soon as I publicly shared about my diagnosis, people who had been in my life, my entire life had spoken up of my neighbor or my cousin or my spouse. And I'm like, wait, how did I not know this? Have I been living under a rock or are we just not talking about these things?

As I've gotten more more involved with the brain tumor community, of course, it feels much larger now. But you're absolutely right that so much of what I have learned and resources I've been made aware of have been through word of mouth. And, you know, this helped me and maybe it will help you or have you thought about this or have you heard about this organization?

Cindy Eich (12:53)
That's one of the things that we also try to establish with the families that we assist is we like whenever possible that we can be a conduit to other resources in the brain cancer community.

Bri (13:08)
I love that. I love that. And that leans into what you were sharing too about like that long-term relationship. This is not a one and done thing. You want to, when you can, offer that long-term support. And so I'd love to hear a little bit more about that second gift that you were describing of a memory making experience.

Cindy Eich (13:30)
I'd like to speak about a young woman. She was pursuing a goal and she was diagnosed with brain cancer just a few weeks after she graduated from college and she was about seven weeks into her career when she received her diagnosis. And almost immediately, she said to her family, “I'd like to have a coffee truck and I want to call it Holy Grounds.” Her family has supported her and our foundation has been able to pour a little love into her goal. And there are two other foundations that have poured into this goal in a meaningful way. And on the side of the truck, says miracles are brewing wherever we go. It's just a lovely story about a community coming together to help this young woman realize her goal.

Bri (14:21)
That's wonderful. And what I really love about this is it is that community focus. On the patient, survivor, caregiver side, there's community there. But I also have learned over the years that even on the organizational nonprofit side of things, there is community there as well. And I go to various brain tumor events and I'm seeing organizations like yours partner with others. It really is a community effort to move the needle on this. So where do you see the future of the Kendall Nicole Eich Foundation?

Cindy Eich (15:01)
Well, we're growing and we can feel that there are people from near and far that are starting to reach out to us and saying, we've heard about your foundation. We've heard of good things that you're doing. And so that just really warms our heart. I do hope that we can grow in a meaningful way. I hope we can pour into our families in a more meaningful way and of course I hope we can expand our reach to additional families.

Bri (15:33)
What would help you extend that reach? What's the most meaningful way?

Cindy Eich (15:38)
Certainly we need donations and opportunities like this to speak about our foundation are such wonderful opportunities. Our events really help us raise critical funds.

We do an event each year in the summer called Kendall's Challenge. It is a 42-day walking, running, biking event where people anywhere can participate and we're connected via an app and we encourage each other. We offer friendly challenges and it has really grown to where we've had participants in 36 states and six foreign countries.

Bri (16:22)
Wow. Oh my goodness.

Cindy Eich (16:25)
And so my dream is that we can tap into walking clubs, cycling clubs, running clubs, people training for marathons, people who are just good hearted, people looking for inspiration to get them out the door each day.

And Kendall left us with a beautiful message saying, no matter how far we go, our love goes further. And so we feel like Kendall's Challenge is a really wonderful way to advance her love goes further message.

Bri (16:59)
I’m curious about the 42 days. Is there significance in that number?

Cindy Eich (17:03)
For a lot of glioblastoma patients, they start their journey with 42 days of chemo and radiation. We thought as a nod to our glioblastoma patients that was a commitment we wanted to make.

Bri (17:18)
I feel like that just goes back to what you were sharing earlier in terms of the intentionality of how you all have built this. Nothing is going overlooked I love the symbolism of the 42 days in the event.

If people are hearing this and they're eager to get involved, whether it's making a donation or wanting to participate in one of your upcoming events, where can they learn more?

Cindy Eich (17:43)
So they can follow us on social media. They can look for us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. And I'll be honest, we do a better job on LinkedIn and Facebook than anywhere else, but we're getting better. And you can go to lovegoesfurther.org. And our website has lots of information about our current events and you can even have a glimpse at things that we've done over the last few years.

Bri (18:13)
That's wonderful. And I will be sure to include all of your social pages as well as your website in the show notes for listeners so they can easily find those.

Cindy, I'm curious with the time that you spent not only, helping your daughter through her own journey, but now your work with the Kendall Nicole Eich Foundation, how has all of this rewired your mind about what's possible in the brain tumor community?

Cindy Eich (18:40)
So I love that question. Just before you and I met, I had lunch with a young researcher and I asked him what attracted him to research in the brain cancer arena. And he told me that there are just so many opportunities for discoveries not yet revealed.

I will tell you the thing. My takeaway is that the need is so great and there is so much opportunity for us to help people. I work pretty tirelessly and my favorite conversations are with those who are part of our beneficiary families. I have heard this phrase more than once, that this is a terrible club that no one would want to join, filled with the most wonderful people. And that is so true. And I can't tell you how many times even our current beneficiaries will say to me, “Cindy, let me know how we can help. Let me know what we can do.”

There really seems to be a very common cord about people who have experienced a brain cancer diagnosis or for those who have lost someone to brain cancer. They really do search out opportunities to give back. We have now made wonderful relationships across the country and even across the world. People who are either doing what we are doing, pouring into families, or who are just avid in raising funds for research.

Bri (20:23)
Yeah, and I'm very hopeful that my podcast can help play a small role in expanding those connections and making new connections as well. And like I said, spotlighting the work that you're doing and getting more eyes and ears and hands involved in this work, because that's what we need.

I echo what you said, that in our community, we very much have a pay it forward mentality. You know, I think everybody who's experienced this doesn't ever want anyone else to experience it. And we want to do everything we can to move in that direction where no one has to experience this anymore.

Cindy Eich (20:58)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Bri (21:01)
Well, thank you, Cindy, for taking the time and joining me and sharing not only about your daughter's experience, but about the work that has come out of it and the legacy that she left and the inspiration she is still giving to others. I appreciate you so much.

Cindy Eich (21:20)
Thank you, Bri. I appreciate what you're doing and just shining a light on the stories of others and you are doing good.

Bri (21:35)
Thank you for being part of the Rewired Minds community. Full show notes, resources, and a transcript for today's conversation can be found at rewired-minds.com. If you or someone you know has a brain tumor story to share, I'd love to hear from you. Visit rewired-minds.com to learn more about collaborating on a future episode. This podcast is a one woman labor of love. It's a true honor to bring it to your ears and facilitate connection among the brain tumor community. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share with someone who might need to hear it.

Bri (22:07)
The stories shared in this podcast are personal accounts from the brain tumor community for informational and awareness purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals regarding your specific situation.