STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Friends, family, neighbors, and members of Staten Island’s North Shore community opened their hearts and packed the Randall Manor Tavern on Saturday at a fundraiser to help defray medical expenses for a West Brighton mother.
Colleen Murphy-Valcarcel, 55, is recovering from brain surgery and was diagnosed after a biopsy with a grade 4 glioblastoma — the most aggressive type of primary brain cancer, frequently characterized by rapid spread, necrotic cells, and high malignancy.
Her daughter Kristina Valcarcel, 22, explained that Murphy-Valcarcel had been suffering from persistent headaches, which she, her husband Michael, and their daughters initially thought were due to a sinus infection.
Her condition quickly escalated to emergency surgery on March 17 at Richmond University Hospital, when doctors removed a golf ball–sized malignant tumor from her brain…