Edmonds' Ciara Inovejas finds joy, healing in softball after she was diagnosed with brain tumor
This story was published and aired on King 5 News May 7, 2025
EDMONDS, Wash. — Ciara Inovejas remembers the joys of playing softball, even the moment her coach said she was better suited for the outfield.
"I love diving for things, so I've been pretty fast since I was young, so my coach decided outfield it is," Inovejas said.
Inovejas started playing select softball when she was 10. She loved to compete in a game that brought her so much joy, but when she got to high school, she started a new battle.
"I think it was tough just because at the time, didn't want to talk to anybody about it," Inovejas said. "I just kind of wanted to be alone, deal with it myself, kind of thing."
Inovejas was dealing with depression and anxiety.
"I didn't really think this is a huge, huge deal," Inovejas said. "I think I, I thought that I would just kind of snap out of it one day."
She stopped going to school and playing for Redmond High, but she never lost her love for the game. In 2015, Inovejas went to Edmonds College and made the softball team.
"It was the first time, I think in my softball career, where I didn't start every game, so it was kind of a reality check as well," Inovejas said.
During her sophomore season, the mental demons got worse and Inovejas decided to hang up her cleats.
"I think the depression made me want to stay home and not do anything and then the anxiety was like telling me, 'Hey, we should be out doing stuff,' and then just the combination of the two was not great," Inovejas said.
In 2021, Inovejas would hit rock bottom.
"COVID shut everything down, so I wasn't working," Inovejas said. "I wasn't really going out at all, just staying home, which gave me the time to do drugs. I got into ecstasy a lot, every day, just to kind of keep me in a good mood all day, then I switched to Percocet every day. I think at the height of it, I was taking like 16 Percocet pills a day."
Anxiety, depression and drugs, and a move away from the Pacific Northwest.
"I moved down to California with my mom just to get out of Seattle in general, so I stopped drugs just cold turkey all at once and then I do remember withdrawal was freaking terrible everything hurt my bones hurt," Inovejas said. "I was sweating all the time, couldn't sleep."
But Inovejas' battle was just beginning. In 2023, she started losing vision in both eyes.
"I couldn't get out of the house," Inovejas said. "I couldn't drive. I couldn't do anything."
Desperate for answers, Inovejas and her mom went to Stanford University
"I remember we went to the ER," said Allan Inovejas, her father. "My initial feeling was, 'Oh man, it's gotta be the brain.'"
"They did more eye tests and then an MRI," Ciara Inovejas said.
And dad was right. Ciara Inovejas had a brain tumor.
"It was scary when someone says your daughter has a tumor in her brain," Allan Inovejas said. "My heart just went,"
The tumor was the size of a small lemon.
"It was probably 1/4 of my brain capacity just right in the center of my brain," Ciara Inovejas said.
Doctors believe it has been growing for over 10 years.
"It was just growing so slowly that nobody really noticed anything when I went in initially to the emergency room," Ciara Inovejas said.
Doctors kept Ciara Inovejas at the hospital. She had surgery the next day and it went well.
"As soon as I woke up I just depression was gone tumor was gone, so I can't complain," Ciara Inovejas said.
Ciara Inovejas also gained full vision in both eyes.
"Eyesight was 100% back as soon as I woke up," Ciara Inovejas said. "It was amazing."
But not everything was right.
"When I woke up, my younger brother and boyfriend were in the room, and I remembered who my brother was," Ciara Inovejas said. "I remember who my boyfriend is, but I don't remember like what kind of dates we've been on really anything besides how we met."
When doctors removed the tumor, they told Ciara Inovejas she also lost about 13 years of memory.
"Re-learning my friends and family members, who they are, what everybody does, how I know people has been a journey, frustrating, just more curious," Ciara Inovejas said.
But Ciara Inovejas did remember she loved softball, and she learned that she had one year of eligibility remaining at Edmonds College.
"I just really wanted one last time out on the field to do my thing," Ciara Inovejas said.
So she texted Edmonds coach Antionette Watson.
Watson and Ciara Inovejas played select softball together for three years.
"The text was like, 'I don't remember much, but I remember I love softball, (can) I come play?'" Watson said. "And I was like, 'Yeah, like, let me, let me ask AD if it can work out.' And you know, sure enough it did."
"I do remember I cried a lot as soon as she said yes because I was just really excited to be in the outfield again," Ciara Inovejas said.
Ciara Inovejas lost some skills but would quickly relearn the game.
"It took a few practices," Ciara Inovejas said. "I was dropping a lot of fly balls for a couple of practices, but I mean after the first week or two it was it was like riding a bike."
Her swing is back, she's still fast, and now, she always has a smile on her face.
"They took something out of her, but it wasn't her ability to make people smile and laugh," Watson said. "I'm just so happy she's here and playing. I feel like she lights a really good fire on this team and really inspires every single person on this team. Her story is truly amazing."
"People love being around people that smile a lot, because they're happy, they feel good and I feel like that there's a lot of people drawn to her," Allan Inovejas said.
Not many 28-year-olds get a "second chance" to play the game they love. Despite the hardships in life, Ciara Inovejas never quit and takes nothing for granted.
"Almost every game, pretty much, yeah, just being very grateful that I'm here playing with my friends one last time and just having a good time," Ciara Inovejas said.
"It's unfortunate it happened, but it's really made her the person she is today, and she's so much stronger than who she used to be," Watson said.
"Whatever you want to do, just go do it," Ciara Inovejas said. Like now, I take pictures. I take videos because back then I used to think, 'Oh, people are thinking I'm silly taking this selfie out here or whatever.' But now you know it's your life, you're the main character of your life, so you have to make it whatever you want."
Ciara Inovejas' Edmonds team will wrap up its regular season Saturday with a doubleheader at home.