Submitted photo Juliette Dietl, 20, a 2024 Boardman High School graduate, center, attends a baseball game while being treated in Philadelphia for glioblastoma. Pictured with her are her boyfriend, Xavier Graham, and mom, April Stanislaw.

BOARDMAN — “Someone’s gotta do it.”

That’s the mindset that keeps Juliette Dietl going these days after finding out last year she is facing a second bout with aggressive brain cancer.

The 20-year-old, who graduated from Boardman High School in 2024, said she shed a few tears, minutes after her first diagnosis, but not one since.

“I’m one of the strong ones I guess,” she said.

Dietl travels to Germany every four to six weeks to receive a CeGaT personalized neoantigen peptide cancer vaccine, which is a cutting-edge therapy that helps the immune system recognize and attack tumor cells.

The treatment is not available in the U.S., but clinical trials here will begin next year, she said.

Dietl found out about the treatment in a Facebook group for people who share the diagnosis and travels with her mom, April Stanislaw, of Boardman, to get the shots.

Dietl said her initial diagnosis with glioblastoma Grade IV came in 2018 after she woke up one day with what she thought was a migraine.

The headache persisted, and when she started vomiting from pain, she headed to the emergency room.

Akron Children’s Mahoning Valley in Boardman treated her for a migraine and sent her home, but the pain persisted, she said.

During a second trip to the hospital, Dietl passed out and hit her head on a sink, which led to a CT scan that revealed internal bleeding in her skull.

She was transferred to the main Akron campus for surgery to address the bleeding, and dead tissue was found, eventually leading to her diagnosis.

“I actually barely remember anything from that year,” she said.

Stanislaw said the tumor was removed at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They were referred there by a nurse on the East Coast that knows Dietl’s dad, Matt.

Stanislaw said her daughter’s skull was removed and kept on ice as she recovered. She had to wear a helmet to protect her brain and underwent proton radiation at Roberts Proton Therapy Center in Philadelphia.

She received chemotherapy and went into remission for five years, but scans last year showed the cancer had returned.

Dietl said surgeons hit a nerve during surgery last year, leaving her without feeling on the left side of her body.

Because of that, she walks with a cane and also has a wheelchair if she needs it.

“I’m in physical therapy and probably will be for the rest of my life,” she said, but added her positive outlook keeps her from dwelling on it. “Mindset is everything.”

Dietl was first diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2018 and given a 30% chance of survival.

She was 13 at the time and went through chemotherapy and radiation. Although the diagnosis was met with shock, cancer is a disease the family knows too well.

Stanislaw, who works for the Mahoning County Treasurer’s Office, said her dad’s cousin had glioblastoma, she had breast cancer at 32, her mom had cancer four times and the BRCA gene that increases the risk for certain types of cancer runs on her side of the family.

Dietl said her sister, Jackie Kane, 27, of Boardman, carries the gene and had a preventative mastectomy to get ahead of it. Sisters Bella Kane, 24, and Angela Dietl, 12, also have the gene.

She plans to have a mastectomy eventually and said she’ll have her ovaries removed after she has children

Dietl has 15,000 followers on TikTok and said sharing her journey on the platform helps her and hopefully others.

Her dad owns Bushwick, a bar and restaurant in Warren. He hosted a fundraiser at Avon Oaks in December that paid for her treatment abroad.

Riverview Golf Club in Newton Falls will host another fundraiser May 3.

He called her second diagnosis “a big kick in the face,” noting the disease forced her to grow up too quickly.

But she adapted, he said, and her attitude about it, along with the promise of the treatment, gives them hope.

“Hopefully we can put this aside soon,” he said, explaining the way his daughter deals with cancer is impressive.

“She’s living life, and I love her for it,” he added.

A fundraiser, Light the Lake for Juliette’s Hope, is planned May 14 at The Lake Club in Poland to help with travel costs.

The main sponsor of the event is Platinum Estates Group, the real estate agency where Stanislaw works.

It will include a cocktail hour, beginning at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner, live entertainment with DJ Marc Lambert, basket raffles, a 50/50 raffle and a “Light the Lake” experience.

Tickets are $75 and a cash bar will be offered through the evening. For more information on sponsorships or to purchase tickets, visit juliettes-hope.com/light-the-lake.

In between treatments, Dietl, who has a tattoo on her hand that reads “Love Will Set You Free,” spends her time going to dinner, movies and planning for a wedding next year.

She and fiance, Xavier Graham, live in Prospect, Pa., near Butler. She said they met at Slippery Rock University in 2024 while she was visiting friends.

The two got engaged within a month of meeting and were planning to move to Colorado when she was diagnosed the second time.

The engagement and thoughts of having a family keep her going, Dietl said, adding “I just have so much more to live for now.”

Stanislaw said Dietl has faced her diagnoses with courage and strength.

“She’s been amazing and I’ve never seen her depressed or moping around,” Stanislaw said. “She adapts very well.”

Through the years, Dietl has met many people online who share her diagnosis, but said few have survived.

“I barely know any survivors anymore,” she said, but insisted she doesn’t let that get her down.

“I’m fine … I’m good,” she said. “It’s mind over matter.”