WHAT??? I have a BRAIN TUMOR???? Again???

WHAT??? I have a BRAIN TUMOR???? Again???

Tabitha

As a 31-year old mother of two small children, the last words I expected to hear were “You have a brain tumor.” I was driving in my minivan when I got that phone call. When I had hearing loss and saw an audiologist two weeks before, I simply thought I would be told I had an ear infection. He quickly ruled-out an infection, however, and said he wanted me to have an MRI to see if I had a brain tumor. A WHAT??? A BRAIN TUMOR??? Ridiculous! I was healthy, had no familial history of tumors of any kind, and I had history of inner ear infections. I was convinced the doctors were misdiagnosing me.

Two months after being told I had a brain tumor, I was in surgery. Neurosurgeons successfully removed a baseball-size tumor and determined it was not cancer. After 13 years of follow-up MRI appointments, I got another phone call: “It’s back.” Unbelievable! I had no symptoms, yet I had a golf ball-size tumor growing on my brain!

Despite having the tumors removed, I am still at risk for developing more. So are my children. This is why this cause is so important to me.

Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.