05/29/2026
Let's meet this years Cancer Cruise benefit recipient Zoe Damjanovich. Here's her story.
In February of 2025, Zoe Damjanovich started experiencing episodes of anaphylaxis requiring many doctor visits and ambulance rides. After months of appointments at Fairview in Hibbing, Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Zoe was diagnosed with idiopathic mastocytosis/idiopathic mast cell. During these tests, we also discovered she has a hormone disorder and will need to receive hormone therapy to help her grow. An MRI was ordered in October to make sure the pituitary gland was not the issue. The MRI showed the pituitary gland was fine, but it showed a brain lesion in a different area. Following multiple trips to Children’s Hospital and Mayo Clinic, it was determined that the lesion is a brain tumor on her right temporal lobe. The plan was to wait until the beginning of 2026 to verify that the tumor hasn’t changed. In November 2025, Zoe started experiencing more symptoms. Mayo ordered an EEG that showed that she seems to be experiencing absence seizures. Since symptoms seem to be advancing, Zoe’s medical team has decided that the tumor needed to be removed. On December 9th, Zoe had brain surgery to remove the tumor. Preliminary biopsy results is a very rare cancer. Since it’s a very rare cancer, the family is waiting for more tests to come back and more research to be done to see what treatment will be and what the chances are of it coming back.
Zoe has been trying to keep her life as normal as possible when she can. She loves being a goalie and had been trying to get as much ice time as possible before her surgery. Zoe continues to be very strong and positive – she is a rockstar!
Zoe’s family are her biggest supporters, her mom, Samantha Damjanovich and her boyfriend Ben Nelson, her little brother, Theodore, her grandmother, Jennie Damjanovich and her grandfather, Marcus Damjanovich. She also has a huge extended team behind her made up of her hockey family, close friends and her medical team.
Our cruise and benefit will be held on Saturday August 29th. Starting and ending at the Hibbing National Guard Armory. Anyone and anything can do the cruise. It doesnt have to be a classic car or motorcycle. It can be anything that can get you to and from each stop. We will be selling raffle tickets all day that day at the armory for lots of wonderful prizes to be given away after the cruise. There will also be food sold that night during the raffle prize give away and also a lunch stop during the cruise. For both meals a portion of the proceeds come back to help out the family, so bring an appetite that day.
