Dad Has Terminal Cancer. Mom Has Cancer for the Second Time: ‘What Happens to the Girls If We Both Go?’

NEED TO KNOW

• Cori and Zak Salazar, parents of three young daughters, are both navigating life with cancer

• In 2023, Zak was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer right after Cori had finished treatment for thyroid cancer; in 2025, doctors found a tumor on her pancreas

• The couple is preparing their daughters for an uncertain future

Parents of three daughters under 7 are facing the unthinkable as they both struggle with cancer diagnoses, leaving them to wonder, “What happens to the girls if we both go?”

Mission Viejo, Calif., mom Cori Salazar was diagnosed with an aggressive thyroid tumor in 2023 and underwent prompt treatment. She had surgery to remove it in June.

But just weeks later, her husband Zak was given bleak news after his eye doctor noticed Zak’s optic nerves were swollen. He was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer for which there is no cure. He had an 8-centimeter tumor in his brain.

“Glioblastoma is just about the worst cancer you can get. It’s essentially a death sentence. The responsible thing to do as parents is to prepare for the worst,” Zak, now 40, told ABC-7. He had brain surgery and chemotherapy to fight the malignant tumor.

Although their conditions seemed to be stable, in February 2025, a test for kidney stones revealed that Cori, now 40, had a precancerous growth on her pancreas, requiring her to undergo surgery to remove her spleen and part of her pancreas. As the mom to Juniper, 6, Delaney, 4, and Luna, 3, explained to ABC-7, “The thought of me not being around for them, or both of us not being around for them, was really scary.”

Then in November, an MRI showed new tumor growths on Zak’s brain, requiring him to undergo another six months of chemotherapy. “Sure enough, the doctor was like, ‘I’m pretty worried about this spot. I want you to start on chemo right away,’ ” Zak, also 40, said.

A GoFundMe has been established to support the family, as “balancing both health journeys, parenting, and daily life has been overwhelming at times.” Part of that journey is reading books about grief to help the parents navigate the heartbreaking process of preparing their daughters face an uncertain future.

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“It really gives them the tools to move through these hard times, you know, in these difficult situations,” Cori said.

They’re also preparing letters to the girls from their dad in case he’s not there: “A letter for their first breakup, you know. A letter for their Sweet 16, when they graduate high school … I hate to think that he wouldn’t be there for that. We hope that he is,” Cori has told ABC-7.

But as Zak explained, “In the glioblastoma community, we will never be cancer-free, because the diagnosis is terminal. It’s a chronic cancer.”

He recently received a bit of good news — a more detailed MRI showed that the latest spot on his brain was false and he does not need chemo at this point.

It’s why Cory says they take it day by day: “That’s what we have is just like, right here, right now.”

“Yep, we have today,” Zak said.

Read the original article on People