'Lifting the odds': How a 22-year-old Provo woman is living with terminal brain cancer

PROVO — At 22 years old, Alex Rowan is living with terminal brain cancer. And to her, "living" means running marathons, lifting weights and going to nursing school.

"I ran my first-ever marathon while on chemo and during radiation, but I had signed up for it pre-cancer diagnosis, and I was determined to run it," she said.

Rowan started having headaches in the winter of 2024. She was a newly married college student and chalked it all up to new life stressors. She said she had never experienced headaches before, but as the headaches turned into migraines that started to affect her vision, she knew she needed to go to the doctor.

"I got a CT scan, and that's when they told me that I had a mass in my brain," she recalled. "It's weird because I obviously didn't expect it, but it's almost like my body knew something wasn't right."

Before going in for her initial appointment in February of 2025, Rowan filmed a video explaining what was going on.

"I was like, 'My head's hurting. Hopefully it's just migraines and I can get onto migraine medication,'" she said. "I think when I did that, part of me knew that it wasn't going to be that simple. It just seemed too weird. Obviously, there is no way you could prepare for news like that."

Doctors initially told her she had a mass that was "likely cancerous." A few weeks later, a biopsy confirmed that she had a high-grade astrocytoma with piloid features (HGAP), which is a rare, aggressive primary central nervous system tumor. Rowan further explained that it is a newly classified tumor.

"It's umbrellaed under a different tumor called pilocytic astrocytoma, and recently they realized that this tumor was actually acting differently and was much more aggressive," she said.

With how quickly the cancer could spread, Rowan would have to start 6 ½ weeks of radiation and do 12 rounds of chemotherapy. She was allowed a few weeks after her diagnosis, however, to do something very important.

"During that time, they said that I could do the IVF process, and I did it through Huntsman because they have programs where you can get grants if you have cancer," she said. "So, we ended up getting some eggs retrieved and frozen."

Not wanting to let go of any plans or dreams she set before her diagnosis, Rowan decided to run the Big Cottonwood Marathon. That was in September of 2025, and she has run several half marathons since.

She has also been documenting her journey with terminal cancer on social media with the hope that she can connect with others who might be going through something similar.

"Talking openly about it on social media has helped me process it a lot," Rowan said. "It's also helped me because I have connected with a lot of people in similar situations as me that I can talk to. I don't think that would have happened at all if I hadn't started posting about it on social media.

"I also think I would have loved to have seen somebody's page like mine right as I got diagnosed," she added. "It would have been so comforting to be able to ask somebody questions because it's just such a confusing time, and you have no idea what's going on. To be able to help other people through this has been so amazing."

Rowan said that even with all that she posts about on social media, she doesn't like to talk about her prognosis. She does, however, want to live every second she's given.

"I do think that it's important that other people who have cancer or have family members with cancer can see that you absolutely can live your life," she said. "It's not like you're 'Hollywood sick' all the time. You can absolutely live how you want to live and move your body how you want to move — with exceptions."

Rowan is also going through the nursing program at Provo College, living a dream of one day working in the medical field.

"I realized how much I missed being in school," she said. "School's always been such a huge part of my life, and I've wanted to go to nursing school or med school to be in the medical field."

Training for marathons and going to school is all part of a motto Rowan has coined for herself.

"I decided that I wanted something to live by," she said. "What I decided on is 'Lift the odds.' It's kind of symbolic. I love lifting weights, but then also not living by the odds.

"I put this motto on every race bib that I've run, and I have it tattooed on my forearm," she added. "A pretty important part of my cancer journey has been to lift the odds."

Rowan will be running the St. George Marathon on Oct. 3, and while she does have a time goal, she says she's really just looking forward to the journey ahead.

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