Debi Nieto is a writer, nonprofit founder, Army veteran, and unapologetic truth-teller who believes life is meant to be lived loudly, lovingly, and with a little sass—especially when it gets hard.

She first learned the meaning of resilience as a cancer mom when her teenage son was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive bone cancer during the height of COVID. Watching him fight, lose a limb, and rise anyway reshaped her life and purpose. Years later, the plot twisted again when Debi herself was diagnosed with an incurable and terminal cancer. Instead of retreating, she doubled down—on family, faith, service, and telling the story honestly.

Debi is the President and Co-Founder of the Stay Strong Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created alongside her son to support pediatric cancer patients and their families through advocacy, comfort programs, and community-driven impact. What started as survival turned into service—and then into a movement.

A mom of six in a blended family and a proud “Glamma” to her growing crew of grandbabies, Debi writes the way she lives: with heart, humor, grit, and zero sugarcoating. Her work speaks to caregivers, fighters, and anyone navigating grief, hope, and the complicated space in between. She is not a survivor—and she doesn’t pretend to be. She is, however, still standing, still loving, and still using her voice.

Debi writes to remind others that even when you can’t control the ending, you can control how you live the pages in between.

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