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, /PRNewswire/ -- Tina's Wish is thrilled to support as she embarks on a courageous journey, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail to honor her mother, , who passed away from Ovarian Cancer in January of 2023. Originally from , Mari is hiking 2,650 miles from the Mexican to the Canadian border and raising money for early detection ovarian cancer research through Tina's Wish. She began her journey on .

"My mom was fiercely confident and independent and modeled for me and my siblings to seek our own sense of self. Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail has always been merely a dream for me, but my mom always encouraged us to pursue our dreams and make them a reality," says Mari, "I am hiking today to honor my mom and to embody the strength and resilience that she exemplified throughout her whole life." Mari is a graduate of and plans to pursue a career in translational oncology research to honor her mother.



She begins a PhD program in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the this fall. "I find myself following in her footsteps. I am consistently motivated to keep learning and trying new things.

My mom is the strongest person I know and fought with kindness and dignity until the end. She would take any bad news as it came and not dwell on it. She would keep moving forward and never look back.

I have no other words except gratitude and love for my mom." "Embarking on the PCT feels very daunting without her physically by my side. She embodied strength and resilience, and I am grateful to her for th.

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