Jina Tolle was diagnosed in July 2016, right around the time Payton (who was born on November 1, 2002) was preparing to enter the eighth grade. At the time of her diagnosis, doctors originally gave her fewer than three months to live, but she aggressively fought the disease for nearly eight years.
She went to all his games she could through high school, college, and gave everything she could to be there for her son as long as she could.