When Stacy Neurohr was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in June 2025, her neighbors did more than just offer her a meal for dinner or a ride to a doctor’s appointment.
They formed a company.
Stacy Inc. is equipped with different roles for different people, from vice president of care to vice president of nutrition, and even has an organizational chart to keep everyone on the same page.
Last June, Neurohr had a doctor’s appointment for a pinched nerve in her shoulder. The doctor gave her a shot, and then she started having spasms in her arm. The spasms persisted on her right side, affecting her leg as well.
Then, Neurohr had a seizure. She knew something wasn’t right and called a friend to take her to the hospital. The MRI taken at UC Medical Center showed the glioblastoma tumor.
Neurohr said she doesn’t remember much of that time in the beginning, other than the hospital was full and had no beds available, so she spent the first week or so in the emergency room. Neurohr’s friend and neighbor Lynn Schaber, who is the mastermind behind Stacy Inc., recalled the first couple of weeks as grim, confusing and chaotic.
Something Neurohr does remember is that she wasn’t told she had glioblastoma; she found out by reading it in her MyChart.
“I went home for a week with the tumor in my head while they scheduled my surgery,” Neurohr said, tearing up. “I wrote a will.”
Schaber met Neurohr through the “clubhouse,” a property with a house and a pool that neighbors turned into a community pool, formally called the “East Row Pool and Social Club.” That was how Schaber said a lot of the Newport, Ky. East Row residents got acquainted. Neurohr has lived in the neighborhood for 23 years.
“Stacy and I were the ones who were anal enough to clean the kitchen,” Schaber said, “organize the kitchen every year, because you’ve got 57 families using the same house, it can get a little disorganized and so we bonded over that.”
As the news of Neurohr’s diagnosis trickled through the neighborhood, friends stepped in to try to help. Schaber said they started a WhatsApp group shortly after, one with Stacy and one without Stacy.
But, Schaber said in the beginning, none of them really knew what Neurohr needed. It was all new territory.
Neurohr went into surgery. While she was in surgery, her neighbors all went for drinks at Jerry’s Jug House, waited, planned and on top of it all, Schaber said they always had positive thoughts. That was key.
“They did the surgery, and he got it all and now I’m just recovering and spending my time,” Neurohr said. “What I have left here.”
She named her plum-sized tumor that was removed “Adolph.”
Following surgery, Neurohr underwent six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy simultaneously.
She couldn’t drive, so Stacy Inc. arranged transportation to and from her appointments. After, she underwent maintenance chemo, which just wrapped in March.
A neighbor made a felted version of Adolph. Neurohr requested that hair be added to it using her cat’s hair.
Done.
The key was to get as many involved as possible without overwhelming Neurohr. People were asked not to send texts. Don’t send flowers, don’t send silly “dustables.” Schaber said it was hard to feel helpful.
“I think it was the corporate side of me, I just saw people with superpowers and specialties, but falling all over each other,” Schaber said. “You could see it in the text. They’re like, ‘Well, don’t send her too many texts,’ and ‘Don’t send her stuff.’ Then a person would say, ‘Oh, I’ve got all of these cool things that I’m sending them over.’ You can’t smack down people when they want to help.”
In line with her corporate mindset, Schaber began creating a company with defined department heads and roles. That helped people know where they could best contribute. They also used a calendar system so people knew when Neurohr had a chemotherapy or physiotherapy appointment and who was taking her. Today, Stacy Inc. has around 43 members.
The exact structure of the organizational chart has evolved, but that early version is what Schaber described as a breakthrough.
Missy Richardson is on Neurohr’s health team. Richardson became acquainted with Neurohr through the clubhouse and through their book club. Richardson has had cancer twice and said that, unfortunately, it means she knows how to navigate the medical system.
“You assume that we’ve all been through cancer or know somebody, and know what questions you should be asking, what to anticipate,” she said. “The reality is if you’ve not been through it, you don’t know.”
Richardson said she helps Neurohr manage the medical piece of knowing what to expect, knowing what to ask for, knowing what to worry about, answering her questions about side effects and overall being someone advocating for her.
As someone on Neurohr’s health team, Richardson also helps to update the rest of the group. She tries to find the right wording for things, so that people understand the gravity of the situation and also how great things are going.
“I didn’t have to worry about anything, just getting better, and I so appreciate that,” Neurohr said.
After her treatments concluded, Stacy Inc. went to the bell-ringing ceremony. The neighborhood women brought Neurohr the Wonder Woman shirt she wore to ring the bell. The team of friends brought baskets of goodies for the hospital workers.
After each radiation treatment, Neurohr put a pin in her felted Adolph’s head. When she completed her radiation treatment, Stacy Inc. held a fire ceremony complete with a shaman (a traditional healer or spiritual leader) from Fort Thomas. Schaber said the ceremony held all positive thoughts. Neighbors helped pull the pins out of Adolph and received little twigs to burn, representing the negative things they were holding onto as well.
Neurohr tossed the felt head into the fire.
The ceremony even had a watermelon carved into a brain.
“I can always rely on my ladies and gentlemen to cheer me up whenever I’m feeling down,” Neurohr said. “They’ve brought food, cards, visits, flowers and Connect 4.”
Neurohr still has the mask she wore during radiation (for protection) and said she’s considering making a pendant lamp out of it.
She is also recently divorced and has two college-aged children. Being an independent person, Neurohr said she found it difficult to accept help at first, but she is extremely grateful.
“This was going to be my second act, and now I don’t get to have that second act,” she said.
Because Neurohr had to quit her job as a grant writer for Planned Parenthood, a job she loved, Stacy Inc. put together a fundraiser for her medical bills. That fundraiser had over 153 donors and exceeded its goal by 25%.
“I was making it on my own, and it all just changed overnight,” Neurohr said.
A central mantra for team Stacy throughout was that the situation was not all doom and gloom; positive mojo remains a must.
Part of keeping the good mojo flowing is a 5k fundraiser to help cover Neurohr’s living expenses. The group settled on a 5k rather than a party, which is something they would typically throw, because Neurohr said she didn’t want to feel like she was attending her own funeral.
Stacy Inc. got in touch with F3NKY through Justin Means, who previously lived in the east row and also knew Neurohr through the clubhouse. F3NKY is part of a global organization with the mission to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men to encourage male community leadership.
The group has the F3NKY Foundation, whose mission is to support Northern Kentucky families in need through fundraising. They host their 5k fundraiser in the spring for Neurohr. All of the proceeds from the 5k will support her living expenses.
The 5k is being held on May 9. Find more information about it here.
As someone who has gone through having cancer, Richardson said the thing that helped calm her down the most the first time around was finding somebody who’s been through her same type of cancer and speaking with them.
“For me, knowledge is power and comfort, right?” Richardson said. “But that’s not for everybody. Some people don’t want to know, and that’s OK. That’s a valid option.”
Even though Neurohr’s life had changed, life also kept going on around her. There was her daughter’s graduation party to plan. Neurohr said she wasn’t up for it, as she was still recovering, but if there’s one thing Stacy Inc. knows how to do, it’s throw a party. Help with things like that is something Richardson said people might not think about.
“I think if you know somebody with cancer or a serious medical condition, rather than saying, ‘What can I do for you,’ think about, if you were in that situation, what would be helpful and offer a specific thing,” Richardson said. “‘Can I do this for you?’ ‘I’d like to drive you somewhere.’ ‘I’d like to go grocery shopping for you.’ Offer a specific thing, because at that moment you’re too overwhelmed.”
Neurohr said if people take anything away from her story, it is that it’s ok to ask for help, and rely on your friends (but they have to be good friends), your life can change in an instant and don’t take your health for granted.